The producers of Bohemian Rhapsody want you to sing “We Are the Champions” right along with them. They’re re-releasing the film this week as a special “sing-along” cut in 750 locations around the United States and Canada, as well as the regular version in 550 additional cinemas. The announcement follows the film’s wins at the Golden Globes for Best Picture (Drama) and Best Actor (Drama), for Rami Malek’s portrayal of Freddie Mercury.
The film’s studio, Twentieth Century Fox, didn’t explain exactly how a sing-along version would work, though the concept has already been a hit with audiences in South Korea. In November, ABC News reported that moviegoers had been enjoying a sort of karaoke version of the film. “The audience was singing, clapping and stamping their feet as if we were at a concert,” Kim Jeong-hwa, a college graduate who had attended two Bohemian Rhapsody sing-alongs, told the network. “The biggest difference from a regular screening and a sing-along is that they have English song lyrics instead of Korean subtitles, which makes it easy for us to follow along.”
An assistant marketing manager for Fox Korea, Chae Ji Su, told ABC News that the special screenings were an experiment. “At first, the Bohemian Rhapsody sing-along session was planned as a short-term event, but thanks to the ardent support of fans, it was added to the official screening schedule,” Chae said. At the time, the network reported that the film had earned more than $17 million in the country’s box office.
It’s also become a runaway success in the United States. It recently became the highest-grossing music biopic of all time, despite pre-release controversy over the firing of director Bryan Singer, a filmmaker beleaguered with accusations of sexual misconduct who reportedly clashed with Malek. The filmmaker was not thanked at the Golden Globes.