Bohemian Rhapsody, in case you missed it, is the 2018 Queen biopic that won Best Motion Picture-Drama at the Golden Globes last weekend. Rami Malek also took home a Golden Globe for Best Actor-Motion Picture Drama for his portrayal of the beloved Freddie Mercury in the film.
It was a huge box office success, both in the US and abroad, bringing in over $748 million; quite impressive for a film with a $50 million budget and significant difficulties and delays in production. Sacha Baron Cohen was initially slated to play Freddie Mercury, so when he left the film over creative differences with the producers in 2013 it seemed the project may never be completed.
Rami Malek signed on to play Mercury in 2016, reviving the project and allowing principal photography to begin in 2017.
Queen lead guitarist Brian May sang Malek's praises for his performance as Mercury in an interview with Express, "Rami absolutely blew us away the first time we met him. We saw Freddie in him, we could sense his passion. I love the way Rami has captured not only Freddie's great powers and ebullience but also the sensitive side, the vulnerability of Freddie, of which there was a lot."
There was a special trial run of a sing-along version of Bohemian Rhapsody released in South Korea to guage fan reaction. It was intended to be a limited run, but was so wildly popular that a worldwide release was planned.
The sing-along's main change (for the Korean release, at least) from the standard version of the film is the inclusion of the song lyrics in English, instead of Korean subtitles. This allows moviegoers to enjoy belting-out the words to their favorite songs with everyone else in the audience.
This sing-along cut of Bohemian Rhapsody is being re-released to 750 cinemas in the US and Canada, and the regular cut is also coming to an additional 550. It just became the highest grossing music biopic of all time, so there's plenty of demand for it.
Some fans have already had the chance to attend one of the sing-along showings, and they're ecstatic.
Some reported that their local audiences weren't as into the interactive version of the film as they were.
Nobody was going to let that stop them from enjoying the experience to the fullest, though.
Unfortunately, this is a limited run, so there's bound to be people disappointed.
Many people expressed a desire to see the sing-along version, and lamented that their area wasn't chosen for the re-release.
It really seems like the demand is there for a wider release of this special sing-along version.
Considering how Queen's music and story has touched the lives of so many people (especially LGBTQI+ people, who don't see much representation of themselves in mainstream media), is it really a surprise that fans jump at a chance for a new way to connect with some of their favorite music and musicians?
If you haven't seen Bohemian Rhapsody yet, now is your chance!
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