The jury decision is in on “Rocketman” and the results aren’t necessarily pleasant. Dexter Fletcher’s R-rated Elton John biopic racked up $22M in its opening weekend. Whereas last year’s Freddie Mercury trend-starter “Bohemian Rhpasody” had racked up $51M in its first three days of business. I have said this would happen all along, but the R rating stamped on “Rocketman” prevented it from becoming a profitable endeavor. Hell, at this point, I would be surprised if it even cracks the $100M mark when all is said and done.
Read moreDexter Fletcher Details How He Was Called Up to Replace Bryan Singer and Save ‘Bohemian Rhapsody'
We all know that Bryan Singer caused total chaos during production of “Bohemian Rhapsody,’” to the point where, on some days, he would just not show up on-set at all. At some point, Fox higher-ups had enough of his erratic behavior and demanded that Singer be fired from ‘Bohemian’. Replacing him was Dexter Fletcher, who is the director of the upcoming Elton John biopic “Rocket Man.” Supposedly there wasn’t much left to shoot (around weeks), but Fletcher came in to complete the film at the behest of old pal Rami Malek would seems to have pleaded to Fletcher to come and save the movie.
Read moreChina's Removal of All Gay Dialogue and Scenes From ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ Confuses Audiences, Creates Plot Holes
Ah yes, the never ending, but successful, saga of “Bohemian Rhapsody.” The film finally opened in select Chinese theaters on March 22, of course the version that is being shown has removed any dialogue or scenes referring, explicitly or unexplicitly, to Freddie Mercury’s homosexuality. China has strict policies on exhibiting LGBTQ content. Ridley Scott’s “Alien: Covenant” was released in China without the kiss between Michael Fassbender and himself. Also, recent LGBTQ classics such as Ang Lee’s “Brokeback Mountain” and. Luca Guadagnino’s “Call Me By Your Name,” were, of course, banned completely from ever being show in the country.
Read more‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ to be released in China with homosexual content completely edited out
Could be a very short movie.
Read moreOscar-Winning ‘Bohemian Rhapsody' Editor Wishes He Could Recut Mocked Meeting Scene: “Whenever I see it, I want to put a bag over my head. Because that’s not my aesthetic."
“Bohemian Rhapsody” editor John Ottman is finally speaking out about his controversial Oscar win for Best Film Editing.
Read moreDespite Death of Freddie Mercury at the end of “Bohemian Rhapsody," sequel being discussed
Don't get greedy now.
Read moreRami Malek's Acceptance Speech Censored in China; Words “Gay Man" Replaced With “Special Person"
Chinese streaming site Mango TV cut OFF the phrase "gay man" from Rami Malek’s Oscar speech.
Malek was trying to honor young people struggling with their identity when he said “listen, we made a film about a gay man, an immigrant, who lived his life unapologetically himself,” but chinese censors replaced “gay man” with “special group.”
Screen grabs of the moment went viral on Chinese social media.
China is known to ban or censor gay-themed content in apprehensive ways. Last year, for example, they banned gay romance “Call Me by Your Name” from appearing at the Beijing International Film Festival. Gay-themed storytelling has also been banned from television for many years now, ditto online streaming content.
“Green Book” and “Bohemian Rhapsody” Topped IMDb User Ratings in 2018
I don’t know how many more times I have to mention this, but despite the hate from critics, “Green Book” and “Bohemian Rhapsody” are at the top of audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb (among the Best Picture nominees).
Read moreThe Upcoming 91st Academy Awards Could Very Well Be a S****Show For the Ages
We all know the months that have led up to the upcoming 91st Oscars telecast have had the kind of veracity that can only be described as nothing but a shitshow. Forget about the incredulous backlash towards films such as “Green Book” and “Bohemian Rhapsody” for a sec, I’m talking more about the three major faux-pas that the Academy did, starting from August of 2018 until this past week. (a) the Best Achievement in Popular Film Oscar idea, (b) the Kevin Hart fiasco, and (c) handing out Cinematography and Editing during commercial breaks.
Read moreWith “Green Book” and “Bohemian Rhapsody” winning, the Golden Globes sent a message to the moral crusaders on Sunday Night
You could hear the uproar that was to come. Even if you weren't logged into a social media platform, you just knew that what the Hollywood Foreign Press Association decided to do yesterday was give a big middle finger to the outrage machine being generated online on a daily basis. What the HFPA's final decision on Sunday felt like was a towering statement that made you want to holler the kitschy Twisted Sister song: "We're not going to take it anymore."
Read moreDirector Bryan Singer Celebrates ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ Golden Globe Win on Social Media Despite Being Conveniently Left Out of Every Speech
Bryan Singer directed “Bohemian Rhapsody.” If you're not familiar with the filmmaker's past history of sexual assault allegations then here's a little refresher:
Read moreActress Elsie Fisher Apologizes After Tweeting How “Happy” She Was That “Bohemian Rhapsody” Won at the Golden Globes
"Eighth Grade" star Elsie Fisher actually had to apologize for tweets in which she stated how "happy" she was that "Bohemian Rhapsody" and Rami Malek won at the 76th annual Golden Globes.
Read more“Bohemian Rhapsody” Wins Golden Globe for Best Drama Film; “Green Book” Wins Best Musical or Comedy Film
Two controversial films, both with their fair share of mixed reviews, took the top honors at this years 76th annual Golden Globes. Peter Farelly's “Green Book” and Bryan Singer's “Bohemian Rhpasody” were heralded champions in the two many film categories.
Read more‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ A Step Closer to Best Picture Nomination after PGA Nom; Critics Start Freaking Out On Twitter.
This morning the PGA (Producers Guild of America) enlightened us with their 10 nominees for their Best Picture prize. Suffice to say. what we have on our hands here is a good old fashioned elitist freakout over "Bohemian Rhapsody" getting an nod. For me, without a doubt, the more appalling nominee is "Crazy Rich Asians," which was most likely included because of the all-Asian cast and the fact that it made a lot of money. The hatred towards "Bohemian Rhapsody" stems from the "de-queering" of Freddy Mercury in the film, which i find to be a mute point considering the film did what it set out to do: entertain. These critics, which include IndieWire's David Ehrlich, The New York Times' Kyle Buchanan and Variety's Guy Lodge, would like to maintain the pressure on ‘Rhapsody’ despite the fact that “Crazy Rich Asians” was a far more middling film and is now destined to become the worst Best Picture nominee since 2011’s "Extremely Loud and Incredible Close."
Read more“Bohemian Rhapsody” Blu-Ray to Include Full Live Aid Performance
20th Century Fox has announced, through an official press release, that the upcoming "Bohemian Rhapsody" 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD, being released on January 22nd, will feature the complete “Live Aid” Movie Performance featuring the two never-before-seen songs (“Crazy Little Thing Called Love” and “We Will Rock You").
Read morePundits: Rami Malek is Front-Runner to Win Best Actor Golden Globe
It quite honestly looks like the Best Actor Oscar is currently Rami Malek's to lose. For the longest stretch I thought Bradley Cooper's performance in "A Star Is Born" was the one-to-beat, but Malek has been picking up considerable steam the last few weeks and 'Star' has been on the downslide.
Read moreSAG Nominees: ‘Crazy Rich Asians' and ‘Bohemian Rhapsody' Surprise Nominees, Now Well-Positioned for Oscar
The SAG ensemble award has been linked as a good precursor for the Best Picture Oscar nominees. The annual rate is that 4 of the 5 SAG nominees usually make it onto Oscar's final 7-9 shortlist of films — which makes today's mind-boggling decision to nominate "Crazy Rich Asians," for best ensemble cast, a little bewildering.
Read moreDirector Scott Derrickson Claims Critics Are Attacking Him on Twitter for Defending “Bohemian Rhapsody"
"Doctor Strange" director Scott Derrickson is yet again throwing darts at film critics. If you remember, last month Derrickson went on Twitter to voice his frustration with critics bashing "Bohemian Rhapsody", stating “I really enjoyed ‘Bohemian Rhapsody. Most criticisms I’ve read about the film say it could’ve been something more. But I refuse to judge a film by [what] I wanted it to be, I receive it for what it is.”
Read moreDespite Mixed Reviews, Can Bohemian Rhapsody Earn a Best Picture Nomination?
You can't escape the fact that "Bohemian Rhapsody" has been such an immense success with audiences nationwide. The Queen biopic has delivered great numbers at the box-office with close to$155M grossed domestically thus far -- cue in all the Hollywood execs greenlighting rock biopics left and right. Not to mention 'Rhapsody' garnering a rare A grade on CinemaScore and an astonishing 8.4 rating on IMDB (based on 127k votes).
Read moreHow 'Bohemian Rhapsody' Lied About Queen Breaking Up and Freddie Mercury's HIV diagnosis
Queen biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody” delivered great numbers at the week-end box-office with a $50M debut. The rock biopic has thus been reborn. I found the film's strongest moments to be the musical sections, which had the band putting together some of their most well-known songs in the studio and, of course, an 11 minute recreation of their legendary 1985 Live Aid performance.
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