Queen’s axeman Brian May has spoken out about claims in the media regarding the amount of revenue the Freddie Mercury biopic ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ has made.
May insists that the band have not “earned a penny” from the hugely successful film.
According to UCR, The academy award-winning film is said to have taken over $900 million worldwide at the box office.
According to The Sunday Times Rich List, it’s alleged that May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon all increased their individual fortunes by over £20 million as a result.
Speaking to the BBC’s Zoe Ball, May said: “It was a long labour of love — about 12 years in development, I guess. 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.”
May gave his thoughts concerning the supposed profits the musicians are reported to have made:
“I had to laugh the other day, because there’s a thing in the paper saying that we were getting rich off this movie. If they only knew. We had an accountant in the other day, and we still haven’t earned a penny from it.”
May continued: “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.”
May added: “I think Freddie comes out it with his dignity, but without having been whitewashed in any way. IIt’s very real… I think people are astounded how close to Freddie Rami [Malek] got. It’s phenomenal the way he got inside Freddie’s body somehow – inside his skin.”
Transcript: Martin Kielty: Ultimate Classic Rock
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