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From Bob Marley to Britney Spears and Beatles, music biopics elbow superhero movies aside
- A planned Britney Spears biopic. A Bob Dylan film already out. Four Beatles films due in 2027. Suddenly, music biopics are all the rage
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Musicians are the new superheroes. At least at the movies, where superhero films have cooled off and music biopics are flooding the marketplace like a new version of The Avengers.
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Just this month, news came that a Britney Spears biopic is in the works. Last month saw the debut of the first trailer for A Complete Unknown – starring Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan – which is slated to hit cinemas before the year is out.
And 2024 has already seen big-screen biopics of Bob Marley (Bob Marley: One Love), Amy Winehouse (Back to Black) and, er, Kneecap; the relatively unknown Irish hip-hop group is the subject of a new film which hit cinemas this week.
And we are not even to the chorus yet. In various states of production are biopics on Michael Jackson (Michael is due out next year), the Beatles (four films, one for each member, are due in 2027), Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, Linda Ronstadt, the Bee Gees, Carole King, Boy George, Keith Moon, Billy Joel and Dionne Warwick.
What is going on? That is a question, not a reference to the Dr Dre-produced Marvin Gaye biopic, which is in a state of turnaround. The short answer is Bohemian Rhapsody, the 2018 Queen biopic, which won four Oscars, grossed nearly US$1 billion, reinvigorated Queen’s catalogue and kicked down the door on the music biopic genre.
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