The hugely successful Freddie Mercury biopic – which won an Oscar for leading man Rami Malek – shattered box office records despite lacklustre critics’ reviews. Now, it seems it could get a follow-up. The original movie climaxed with the group’s iconic Live Aid concert in 1985, six years before Mercury died. Could that time period be the focus of another film?
Rudi Dolezal directed videos for the group and also became good friends with Mercury.
Now, he has told Page Six: “I’m sure [Jim Beach] plans a sequel that starts with Live Aid.
“[It’s] being heavily discussed in the Queen family.”
Queen legend Brian May had previously indicated that a sequel was unlikely – but he didn’t rule it out.
“I think Live Aid is a good point to leave it,” he said late last year.
“Who knows, there might be a sequel.”
A rep for Queen’s record label told the US publication that they were unaware of any plans for a new film – so if it is indeed in the works, it’s still in the very early stages of development.
May has recently spoken out once again against critics, who have been less than favourable about Bohemian Rhapsody since its theatrical release last year.
“I found the public activity behind the whole awards season, and the behaviour of the media writers surrounding it, deeply disturbing,” he wrote on Instagram last week.
“If you look at the Press and Internet discussions that took place over the last few months, you can see that 90% of it is aimed at discrediting one or other, or all of the nominated films by innuendo and smears, rather than discussing their merits and admiring the skills that went into making them.
“Vitriol and dishonesty, and blatant attempts to shame and influence the members into voting the way they, in their arrogance required them to.
“It’s not the fault of the awards panels – they stood up well. It’s a kind of vindictive sickness that seems to have gripped public life.”
Bohemian Rhapsody is out on DVD, Blu-ray and digital download now.