Fox’s Freddie Mercury biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody” is heading for a North American opening weekend as high as $30 million on Nov. 2-4, early tracking showed Thursday.
“Mr. Robot” star Rami Malek is in the lead role as Mercury, the frontman for Queen. New Regency and GK Films are the production companies. Mercury wrote numerous hits for Queen, including “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Killer Queen,” “Somebody to Love,” “Don’t Stop Me Now,” “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” and “We Are the Champions.” Dexter Fletcher came on board to direct in December after Fox fired Bryan Singer from the project. However, Singer has retained the directing credit.
An opening of more than $26 million for “Bohemian Rhapsody” would give it the second highest music biopic opening ever, after a $60 million opening weekend in 2015 for “Straight Outta Compton.” Tupac Shakur biopic “All Eyez on Me” opened to $26.4 million in 2017.
“Bohemian Rhapsody” will open against Disney’s “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms” and Paramount’s Tyler Perry comedy “Nobody’s Fool,” starring Tiffany Haddish. Early tracking on “The Nutcracker,” which stars Keira Knightley, Helen Mirren, Misty Copeland, and Mackenzie Foy, came in Thursday slightly lower than “Bohemian Rhapsody” in the $23 million to $26 million range.
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Lasse Hallstrom and Joe Johnston have a unique shared directing credit on “Nutcracker and the Four Realms.” Hallstrom was the first director on the movie, and Johnston was hired for a month of re-shoots, requiring extensive special effects, when Hallstrom was not available. The live-action movie is based on E.T.A. Hoffmann’s 1816 story “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King,” in which a girl named Clara is tasked by her parents with taking care of a toy Nutcracker doll, which comes to life and defeats an evil Mouse King with seven heads.
“Nobody’s Fool,” starring Haddish, Tika Sumpter, Omari Hardwick, and Whoopi Goldberg, generated tracking in the $10 million to $17 million range. Perry is directing and producing from his own script. Haddish will portray a wild woman who gets released from prison and reunites with her sister, played by Sumpter. Sumpter’s character is in an online relationship with a man that may be catfishing her.
“Nobody’s Fool” will be the third release starring Haddish in less than two months. Her comedy “Night School” has generated a solid $50 million in its first dozen days in North America. She also stars in the political satire “The Oath,” which opens Friday in limited release, as the wife of Ike Barinholtz’s character.