‘Magnifico’ for ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’
Freddie Mercury biopic rocks the box office.
NEW YORK – The Freddie Mercury biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody” is – for now, at least – champion of the world.
The film, starring Rami Malek as the Queen frontman, shrugged off production troubles and mediocre reviews to debut with an estimated $50 million in weekend ticket sales and another $72.5 million internationally, according to studio estimates Sunday. That was well beyond expectations, which had pegged the film closer to $35 million to $40 million.
But audiences rushed to theaters to see the widely praised performance by Malek, the “Mr. Robot” star, and to hear Queen’s foot-stomping anthems like “We Are the Champions,” ”Another One Bites the Dust” and the operatic title song. The movie, which Bryan Singer directed before being replaced by Dexter Fletcher, at times has an almost concert-like feel, including a lengthy re-creation of the band’s 1985 Live Aid performance.
“It really is a celebration of Queen and their music,” says Chris Aronson, distribution chief for 20th Century Fox.
The biopic trounced Disney’s lavish, big-budget “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms,” which opened with just $20 million despite a production budget of $125 million.
“We were hoping for a stronger start, but we do think it’s a film that people will find as we head into the holidays,” says Cathleen Taff, head of theatrical distribution for Disney.
Though Disney’s record of success is the envy of Hollywood, “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms,” starring Mackenzie Foy as Clara, marks the studio’s third misfire this year following the underperforming “A Wrinkle in Time” and “Solo: A Star Wars Story.” The studio’s CGI-stuffed resurrection of E.T.A. Hoffmann story was positioned as an early holiday season release but flopped with critics (34 percent “fresh” reviews on Rotten Tomatoes) and sparked only modest interest from audiences. It grossed $38.5 million overseas.
“Bohemian Rhapsody” was largely dismissed by critics as an overly conventional rock biopic (60 percent “fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes), but the film proved more popular with moviegoers, who gave the PG-13 release, produced by Graham King, an A grade on CinemaScore and 41⁄ stars out of five on Comscore’s PostTrak survey.
“Even in the negativity ... there was always a ‘but,’ almost universally: ‘ But Rami is great,’ ” Aronson says.
Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore, praised Fox’s rollout of the film as “pitch-perfect.” Dergarabedian also cited Malek’s breakout big-screen performance. Music-based films have lately been major draws, from “The Greatest Showman” to Oscar favorite “A Star Is Born,” which collected another $11.1 million in its fifth weekend for $165.6 million overall.
“It seems that audiences can’t get enough of movies that have music baked into their DNA,” Dergarabedian says. “That’s proving to be a very successful formula.”
But another winning formula – Tiffany Haddish plus anything – came up short. “Nobody’s Fool,” which paired Haddish with box-office force Tyler Perry, opened in third with a so-so $14 million. While far from disastrous for a movie that cost $19 million to make, the muted performance of “Nobody’s Fool” seemed likely a result of oversaturation. Two films starring Haddish (”Night School” and “The Oath”) have opened in the past six weeks, and “Night School” is still No. 12 at the box office.
Rounding out the rest of the top five: The latest “Halloween” movie with Jamie Lee Curtis, fifth with $11 million.
In limited release, Joel Edgerton’s acclaimed gay-conversion therapy drama “Boy Erased,” starring Lucas Hedges, opened with a strong per-theater average of $44,000 in five theaters.
“A Private War,” starring Rosamund Pike as war correspondent Marie Colvin, opened in four theaters with a pertheater average of $18,000.
Final numbers are expected Monday.