ROCKETMAN & The Rise Of The Music Biopic
Only last week Paramount Pictures dropped the official trailer for their upcoming Elton John biopic Rocketman starring Kingsman actor Taron Edgerton in the role of the rock legend himself. However, what’s worth noting is the movie’s director Dexter Fletcher, known best for his work on 2016′s Eddie The Eagle movie as well as last year’s Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, where he took over directing duties from Bryan Singer following a string of sexual misconduct allegations as well as rumoured on-set drama involving the director.
Yet despite the troubled production behind the film, Bohemian Rhapsody was unquestionably a box-office sensation, grossing well over $850mil + worldwide in theatres alone and becoming the 7th highest grossing movie of last year. It’s understandable, then, that Hollywood is eyeing up the opportunity to gross huge numbers with these musical biopics based on popular music icons and bands, with Rocketman being the first of many planned upcoming ‘music movies’.
What’s On The Way?
It was recently revealed that a David Bowie biopic was also in the works with Johnny Flynn, best known for his work on 2017’s Beast (where he had a leading role) as well as TVs Genius in the same year where he portrayed another icon, Albert Einstein. Although, Bowie’s son Duncan Jones (Source Code & Warcraft) has stated that the film will not include any of Bowie’s iconic hits like Space Oddity or Under Pressure, which he sang with Queen’s eccentric lead singer Freddie Mercury. This lead to many already beginning to doubt the film’s financial success, as many felt that Queen’s iconic music was what carried the otherwise lacklustre Bohemian Rhapsody to success.
Even Netflix appears to be jumping on the trend, with the trailer for their upcoming Mötley Crüe movie The Dirt hitting the streaming service on March 22nd of this year. And, whilst not as renowned as Queen or Bowie, the group still has a large following, with hit songs like Kickstart My Heart and Home Sweet Home that led the rock band to late ’80s success. And not to mention the added advantage of having the movie be shown directly on streaming, allowing for it to be accessed by a much wider audience than it would likely have found in a theatrical release.
So, with all these musical biopics already announced (and many still speculated to be in the works), it seems like the music biopic could be the next big Hollywood sensation. Assuming Rocketman is a financial success, it seems probable that many studios will be eager to start green-lighting more of these movies into production, hoping to cash-in on the craze and to enjoy similar success to Bohemian Rhapsody. Many movie-goers are even calling for something similar to the Marvel Cinematic Universe to be developed, with appearances from various famous musicians appearing in one another’s movies. It’s not a surprise, therefore, that when the words Marvel Cinematic Universe is involved, many studios are already seeing green.
Are They Sustainable?
At this point it’s difficult to tell; Bohemian Rhapsody was far from a critical success with a relatively low Rotten Tomatoes score of 61%, and some of its harshest critics like Indiewire’s David Ehrlich scoring the movie a dismal 1/5, citing it as “royally embarrassing“. And, whilst clearly many audience members felt the movie was entertaining, it remains hard to deny that, aside from the Oscar-winning Rami Malek performance and the killer Queen soundtrack, the movie lacked a lot of depth and substance, restricted by its PG-13 rating from getting too deep into the more deviant side of Freddie Mercury’s life. It does cause concern that this ‘style over substance approach’ may cause these movies to begin feeling repetitive all too soon.
Yet for now, it all seems positive. The trailers released for Rocketman look spectacular and have garnered solid viewership across YouTube and the rest of social media. Hopefully, with Dexter Fletcher in the director’s chair throughout production, rather than a last-minute shoo-in, he will be able to better blend the iconic music of Elton John with a richer and more engaging story that was lacking in Bohemian Rhapsody. And if he does deliver another foot-stomping success at the box office, it’s hard not to imagine a world where these musical movies continue to soar into cinemas.
What are your thoughts on the recent rise of biopics?
Rocketman rocks it’s way into cinemas 24th May 2019 (UK) & 31st May 2019 (US).
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