Queen is Yet to Earn “A Penny” From “Bohemian Rhapsody” Sales

Brian May. Photo by Pako Mera/REX/Shutterstock (9791221au)

Queen legend Brian May says that the band hasn’t “earned a penny” from the recent Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody.

The feature starred Rami Malek as the late Freddie Mercury. Malek received an Academy Award for his stellar performance along with a Golden Globe, SAG, and BAFTA. His epic performance along with the popularity of Queen resulted in $900 million of earnings at the box office.

Although Queen’s original music was used in the feature, however, it seems that they are yet to benefit from the sales of the movie.

May told BBC Radio 2 on The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show: “We thought it would do well in the end and we felt good about it, but we didn’t realize it would do that well. It’s incredible around the world – it’s like a billion-dollar movie.”

In spite of the movie’s global success, May has admitted that they are yet to earn any profits from sales.

“I had to laugh the other day because there’s a thing in the paper saying that we were getting rich off this movie,” he said. “If they only knew. We had an accountant in the other day and we still haven’t earned a penny from it.

“Isn’t that funny? How successful does a movie have to be before you make money? There’s so many people that people don’t realize will take pieces off the top.”

Bohemian Rhapsody is available for purchase on DVD via Amazon now.