Here’s a wild, mind-melting statistic for you: as of April 14th, the only other Fox movies to gross higher than Bohemian Rhapsody at the global box office are Avatar, Titanic and Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace.
Per Deadline, the studio’s fist-pumping success story soared past $900 million this weekend, proving that, once again, the film’s storied production woes did not affect the performance in any way, shape or form.
Bohemian Rhapsody is arguably one of the biggest overachievers of the modern cinematic era, and it even managed to snag several huge awards – Best Actor at the 2019 Oscars included – along the way. The $52-million budgeted drama will likely fall just short of that coveted billion-dollar mark, but even still, this is an incredible achievement, no matter which way you spin the numbers.
Part of the reason behind Bohemian Rhapsody‘s success is the fact that 20th Century Fox took full advantage of sing-a-long screenings right across the world, with Japan proving to be a particularly lucrative market ($115M) for the Queen epic.
As a matter of fact, in terms of gross profit, Deadline notes that Bohemian Rhapsody was the 4th most profitable release of 2018, behind only Aquaman, Venom and Deadpool 2. You may be wondering why Avengers: Infinity War didn’t make the cut; it’s simple, really, despite grossing more than $2 billion at the worldwide box office, Marvel’s MCU tentpole was an incredibly expensive venture across the board, with glossy VFX and wage bills bumping its overheads into the stratosphere.
Despite some last-minute reshoots to accommodate Bryan Singer’s high-profile departure, Bohemian Rhapsody managed to keep its costs down, resulting in one of the most profitable movies not just of 2018, but the past 10 years. Is it enough to warrant talk of a potential sequel, though? We’ll leave that one to you.