Queen star Brian May: ‘We haven’t earned a PENNY from Bohemian Rhapsody’

The iconic musician was heavily involved in the making of the movie, which became a record-breaking success worldwide.

With Rami Malek playing Freddie Mercury, Bohemian Rhapsody even won four Academy Awards – more than any other film this year.

Speaking to Zoe Ball on BBC Radio 2 yesterday, May laughed off the suggestion that he and Roger Taylor have been basking in royalties from its box office glory.

“There’s a thing in the paper saying we were getting rich off this movie,” he said.

“If they only knew!

“We had an accountant the other day and we still haven’t earned a penny from it – isn’t that funny?

“How successful does a movie have to be before you make any money!

“There’s so many people of course who will take pieces off the top.”

But he added: “The feeling of it so great, the fact it’s out there.

“And I think Freddie comes out of it with his dignity, without being whitewashed in any way.”

He had earlier told Ball that he was pleasantly surprised by just how well it did.

“It was a long labour of love, 12 years in development,” he recalled.

“And we thought it would do well, we felt good about it – but we didn’t realise it would do THAT well.”

May and Taylor are now performing as Queen with Adam Lambert on lead vocals.

Yesterday Lambert revealed details of his own new solo music, with a single expected for release next week.

The band then reform for The Rhapsody Tour over the summer and into 2020.

Currently there are no plans for it to swing by the UK, but May hinted during his Zoe Ball visit that “one more [tour stop] before we pop off” should be likely.