Following a shot-by-shot recreation of Queen’s 1985 Live Aid performance, Bohemian Rhapsody ends with a statement: “Freddie Mercury died of AIDS-related pneumonia on the 24th November 1991. He was 45 years old.” You would think that the tragic passing of one of rock’s greatest vocalists would make a sequel impossible? Well, you would be wrong: Bohemian Rhapsody 2: The Adam Lambert Years (?) is reportedly being “heavily discussed.”
Rudi Dolezal, a filmmaker who directed videos for Queen (including “Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy” and “I’m Going Slightly Mad”), told Page Six that a follow-up film is “being heavily discussed in the Queen family,” and that he’s sure the band’s manager Jim Beach “plans a sequel that starts with Live Aid.”
The movie ends with the band’s iconic Live Aid performance, which is around the time that Dolezal began working with Queen — beginning with their 1985 song “One Vision.” He ended up doing around 30 videos for the band and its members, ending with Mercury’s final video shoot for “These Are the Days of Our Lives” in 1991. (Via)
Commercially, I Still Know What You Bohemian’d Last Summer makes sense, considering the biopic won four Academy Awards, including Best Actor, and made over $850 million at the box office. Creatively, though? That’s another story, one that’s not as interesting compared to the Mercury years.
Queen never officially broke up following Mercury’s death; Brian May and Roger Taylor (who are both listed as consultants on Bohemian Rhapsody) soldiered on as Queen +, first with Paul Rodgers, then Adam Lambert. That’s who sang “We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions” at the Oscars, a well-received performance and why we’re having this sequel discussion in the first place. It’s also worth noting that an ABC special with Queen and Lambert airs next month.
To paraphrase Freddy Mercury himself, the sequels must go on.
(Via Page Six)
