That Bohemian Rhapsody’s opening weekend brought in $51 million appears to demonstrate the resilience of a rock biopic that delivers the musical goods: Queen is about as strong a brand as exists within popular music, and love for the late Freddie Mercury (played in the film by Rami Malek) may be deeper now than it was during his short life.
Although the film was beset by production troubles, including rumors of conflict between Malek and director Bryan Singer; who was reportedly absent often and subsequently replaced by Dexter Fletcher (though the latter is credited as an executive producer), the movie was able to leave behind bad buzz and emerge triumphant to audiences.
For this we can perhaps credit the steady hand of super-producer Graham King, for whom this was a passion project, as well as remaining Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor, who helped shepherd the band's story to the big screen.
Reviews for the film haven’t exactly been stellar (it plays out with very few surprises) but almost everybody agrees that Malek delivers a stunning performance. Plus, there's simply no denying the power of those songs, used very effectively by the film (they take on an even more fist-pumpingly awesome quality when enjoyed with a large crowd in a cinema).
And maybe we can even give a little credit to the success of A Star Is Born (still going strong at $11 million over the weekend, bringing its total to $164 million to date) for putting movie audiences in a rock-god frame of mind.
Whatever the case, it's the second-biggest opening weekend ever for a musical biopic, sitting behind 2015's Straight Outta Compton, and it bodes very well for Fletcher's upcoming biopic of Elton John, Rocketman.
Disney's The Nutcracker and the Four Realms opened in second place with a $20 million gross over the weekend; not exactly chump change, but no doubt disappointing returns for a big-budget Disney fantasy, which evokes the aesthetic of mega hits like Alice in Wonderland and Maleficent. Maybe audiences were worried there would be ballet involved.
Notably, like Bohemian Rhapsody, The Nutcracker also represents the work of two directors; with Joe Johnston (The Rocketeer) stepping in for Lasse Hallström (What's Eating Gilbert Grape) when the latter was unavailable for re-shoots. It's an extremely rare case of two directors being credited for the same film — the Directors Guild of America maintains the notion that only one director can truly be the author of a film, which doesn't even factor in, you know, the actual author, i.e., the screenwriter. But anyway…
The Tyler Perry-directed Tiffany Haddish vehicle Nobody's Fool took third place at the box office over the weekend with $14 million; a small number compared to previous films from both talents. Perhaps audiences are suffering a bit of Haddish fatigue — her last comedy, Night School, is still in theaters at number twelve.
Going further down the top twenty, after garnering the year's best per-cinema average in a very limited release (two theaters) a week ago, Suspiria expanded into another 309 theaters but failed to earn a million dollars in its second weekend, landing in 19th place. Word of mouth on this dazzling horror may be less feverish than originally anticipated.
Three places down the weekend box office list at number 22, the Nicole Kidman-starring gay conversion therapy drama Boy Erased made an impact in a limited release in five theaters, earning an estimated $44,000 per cinema and garnering strong reviews.
Will the fun audiences are having with Bohemian Rhapsody carry over into stellar second-weekend returns? It's facing a bevy of stiff competition in the form of a new animated version of The Grinch, J.J. Abrams' Overlord and The Girl In The Spider's Web. Check back next week to see how they fare.