Bohemian Rhapsody to get surprise China release this month
Images: courtesy New Regency Pictures/Queen Films Ltd
The Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody will be getting air time in China this March, once more proving that no one really knows what is considered too risqué for the Chinese government.
At the same time that the movie's China release headlines hit the masses, news of a local streaming website editing Rami Malek's Oscar acceptance speech was also surfacing. The popular Chinese website which live-streamed the Oscars altered the actor's acceptance speech for Best Actor, translating Mercury's sexuality as 'special'.
Releasing the film here does come with caveats though, as we can expect certain scenes in the film to bite the dust. According to the Hollywood Reporter, at least one minute of edits will occur, particularly scenes portraying drug use and Mercury getting a little too hot and heavy with other male characters. Following this news, fans immediately took their concerns to social media, asking for the movie to be released in its entirety, as it was intended.
Who knows – we might be pleasantly surprised. In 2016, Moonlight, a film about a gay African-American male growing up in the rough neighbourhoods of Miami, was allowed to be streamed on iQiyi, a local platform similar to Netflix. However, last year the Oscar-winning love story Call Me By Your Name – which follows two young men’s summer romance – was pulled from the Beijing International Film Festival.
According to Variety, Bohemian Rhapsody is set to be released on March 22. Which is pretty exciting, given the number of Oscars it won last weekend. The biopic pulled in a total of four Academy Awards, including Malek's Best Actor as well as Best Editing, Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing. So, don't stop us now, we're watching that film in Shanghai.