Box office
Bohemian Rhapsody grossed $216.7 million in the United States and Canada, and $694.4 million in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $911.1 million, against a production budget of about $52 million.
On 11 November, it surpassed Straight Outta Compton ($201.6 million) to become the highest-grossing musical biopic of all time (it was surpassed by Michael in 2026). Bohemian Rhapsody went on to set box office records for the highest-grossing biographical film until Oppenheimer (2023), and the highest-grossing LGBT film. It also set the record for the highest-grossing conventional drama film (it was surpassed by Joker in 2019). It is Fox's fourth highest-grossing film, and their fifth highest outside of North America.
Deadline Hollywood calculated the net profit of the film to be $350.8 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenue, making it the fourth most profitable release of 2018. However, in November 2021, after McCarten sued producer Graham King over lack of payments, it was revealed 20th Century Fox wrote down the film as a $51 million loss, an act attributed to Hollywood accounting.
In the United Kingdom, the film had preview screenings on its opening night of 24 October 2018, grossing £1.62 million ($2.22 million) from 575 venues, with a per-screen average of £2,817 ($3,859). It went on to gross $12.5 million from 1,250 screens in its opening weekend, finishing first at the box office. It grossed another $7.4 million in its second weekend, remaining at number-one and grossing £20.4 million ($27.95 million) through 12 days.
In the United States and Canada, Bohemian Rhapsody was released alongside The Nutcracker and the Four Realms and Nobody's Fool, and was originally projected to gross $26–30 million in its opening weekend. By the week of its release, weekend estimates had reached $35–40 million. It made $18.4 million on its first day, including $3.9 million from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $51.1 million, topping the box office and marking the second-best opening for a musical biographical picture, behind Straight Outta Compton ($60.2 million in August 2015). The film made $31.2 million in its second weekend, finishing second, behind newcomer The Grinch, and $15.7 million in its third, finishing behind Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald and The Grinch.
In its fourth weekend the film made $13.8 million, and $19.3 million over the five-day Thanksgiving frame, finishing fifth. On 1 December, it passed $162 million at the domestic box office, surpassing Straight Outta Compton as the highest grossing musical biopic in the United States. In its 10th weekend of release the film was added to 199 theatres over the previous week for a total of 1,080, and made $2.4 million. In its 12th weekend of release the film made $2.3 million from 1,117 theatres, crossing the $200 million mark. In the film's 13th week of release, following the announcement of its five Oscar nominations, it was added back to an additional 246 theatres (for a total of 1,423) and made $2.6 million.
In its second weekend of international release, the film topped the worldwide box office, grossing $72.5 million in international markets. New markets included France ($7.7 million), Mexico ($5.8 million), Germany ($5.7 million) and Australia ($5.7 million). By its fourth weekend the film was still holding strong, adding an additional $45.5 million from 78 markets, for a running total of $256.4 million. Through four weekends of international release, the film's largest markets were the UK ($45.3 million, passing La La Land), followed by South Korea ($24.5 million), France ($18.38 million), Australia ($16.8 million) and Mexico ($15.5 million). On 12 December, the film surpassed $433 million at the international box office, becoming the highest-grossing musical biopic ever overseas.
The film became the biggest 2018 release in 13 international markets, including Japan ($88.6 million), Italy ($30.5 million) and the Netherlands ($19.3 million), as of 20 January 2019. The film's largest overseas markets were in East Asia, with the largest-grossing market being Japan, where it became the highest-grossing film of 2018. The film crossed 7 million tickets sold and ¥10 billion grossed at the Japanese box office, with the IMAX version crossing ¥1 billion, becoming the highest-grossing IMAX release ever in Japan. It also crossed $115 million there, and is the highest-grossing live-action musical film in Japan, passing Beauty and the Beast (2017). As of 31 March 2019, Bohemian Rhapsody has sold 9,220,250 tickets and grossed ¥12,739,285,680 in Japan.
In South Korea, the film debuted at number two at the box office and by the fourth week took over the number one spot. After a short drop for two weeks, the film reclaimed the number one spot in its seventh week, which is a first for a Hollywood film. As the second-largest grossing market outside of North America, the film has amassed $74 million, as of 1 February 2019, and has become the sixth highest-grossing foreign film ever in South Korea, with nearly 10 million tickets sold. It is the most successful musical film ever released in South Korea.
The film grossed $29.4 million in Spain, $16.4 million in Russia and $14.4 million in Brazil, as of 3 February 2019. In China, where the film received an art house release after having its content edited, it debuted to $11.6 million, setting the all-time record for a National Alliance of Arthouse Cinemas release.
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