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After enduring a week of backlash over its plan to shorten the Oscars by not showing some categories live then ultimately relenting, the Movie Academy needs your loving tonight. Now some Queen fans might be saying, “You’re my best friend.” The band featured in 2018 breakout biopic Bohemian Rhapsody is set to play the Academy Awards on Sunday.
The move should please the legion of fans of the movie and is likely to draw more eyeballs to ABC’s telecast.
The band features its original guitarist and drummer — Brian May and Roger Taylor — along with American Idol alum Adam Lambert on vocals. Its original singer Freddie Mercury, who was portrayed in the film by Best Actor Oscar nominee Rami Malek, died in 1991.
Best Picture Oscar nominee Bohemian Rhapsody has taken in more than $854 million worldwide to become by far the biggest music biopic in movie history. It has banked $212.2 million in North America alone and was the No. 12 movie of 2018 domestically. It ranks No. 67 on the all-time list of top grossers globally.
No word yet on the setlist for Sunday’s Queen extravaganza, but it certainly is likely to be the classic title track from the film and — judging from the Academy’s self-imposed time constraints — not the legendary 25-minute Live Aid performance that was depicted in the film.
“Bohemian Rhapsody” was the featured track on Queen’s 1975 album A Night at the Opera and reached No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100. After being the centerpiece of a hilarious scene in the 1992 film Wayne’s World, the re-released single reached No. 2 stateside. It topped the UK chart upon its original release and made it back to the top there as part of a medley with “These Are the Days of Our Lives” shortly after Mercury’s death.
