Queen will perform at the Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday, the Motion Picture Academy announced on social media today. The move, which is not completely a surprise, comes in the wake of the blockbuster success of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” the biopic about the band and its late singer, Freddie Mercury. The band now performs under the name Queen + Adam Lambert, with two of the four original members, guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor, fronted by former “American Idol” star Adam Lambert, who has won critical applause in his role as the group’s frontman over the past few years. Bassist John Deacon has not performed with Queen for many years. As previously reported by Variety, the telecast’s producers were known to have reached out to reps for the film and the band early in the planning process to try to procure Queen for the opening slot of the show. Several weeks ago, sources close to the situation indicated it wasn’t going to happen, but clearly things have turned around in the interim. This marks a rare instance where a music performance on the Oscars might be considered one of the show’s biggest ratings-baiting “gets,” between the movie’s blockbuster success ($212 million in the U.S. to date, and a worldwide cume of $854 million) and the fact that Queen itself is undyingly popular (the song that gave “Bohemian Rhapsody” its title was named in December as the most streamed song ever that originated in the 20th century). The addition of Queen + Lambert does have the effect of loading more music into a show that had been trying to rid itself of too much of it. The Academy recently relented and acceded to a popular outcry in allowing performances of all five best original song nominees on the telecast, after word slipped out that they’d planned to only include Lady Gaga’s and Kendrick Lamar’s numbers. It’s said that some of the lesser known nominated songs will be abridged to the 90-second range — a fate that surely will not befall Gaga, Lamar or, obviously, in their featured spot, Queen. While “Bohemian Rhapsody” takes considerable liberties with the group’s history, the power of the band’s music and a spellbinding performance from Rami Malek (who portrays Mercury) have overshadowed most of the criticism. Variety wrote in its review of the film, “Malek, the 37-year-old Egyptian-American actor from “Mr. Robot,” takes on the role of Freddie Mercury as if born to it. Swarthy and insinuating, if neither as tall nor as serpentine as Mercury, Malek has been outfitted with a set of fake front teeth, a recreation of the jutting Freddie overbite that works well enough, though it’s often a bit distracting, because there don’t appear to be any spaces between the pearly whites — it’s like seeing a Freddie who got his teeth capped. That said, Malek winds up looking, and inhabiting, the part to a remarkable degree. Watching “Bohemian Rhapsody,” we always feel like we’re seeing Freddie Mercury standing right in front of us.”<doc-sep>British rock band Queen will perform live at Sunday's Oscars ceremony, organizers said on Monday — an announcement that follows the blockbuster success of best picture nominee Bohemian Rhapsody. "Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? We welcome @QueenWillRock and @adamlambert to this year's Oscars!," the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on its official Twitter feed. The band, whose late frontman Freddie Mercury is the subject of Bohemian Rhapsody, is now made up of original members Brian May and Roger Taylor, with former American Idol star Adam Lambert taking on vocals. "Queen and @adamlambert will ROCK YOU," the band tweeted in response, giving the Feb. 24 date of the Oscars ceremony in Hollywood. Queen + @adamlambert will ROCK YOU! 👞👞 👏Feb 24th. 5pm PST. #Oscars #Oscars2019@TheAcademy pic.twitter.com/gpyytIeBdU —@QueenWillRock Bohemian Rhapsody has a total of five Academy Award nominations, including a best actor nod for Rami Malek, who takes on the role of Mercury. Mercury died of AIDS in London in 1991 at the age of 45. The movie has taken more than $854 million US at the global box office to become the most successful musical biopic ever. Lucy Boynton, as Mary Austin, and Rami Malek, as Freddie Mercury, are shown in a scene from Bohemian Rhapsody, which is nominated for best picture at the 91st annual Academy Awards. (Alex Bailey/Twentieth Century Fox) The academy did not say what songs Queen would perform or when they would appear on stage during the telecast, which is going ahead without a host for the first time in 30 years. Bohemian Rhapsody is not nominated for its songs or soundtrack, but other musical performances at Sunday's ceremony will include Lady Gaga and actor-director Bradley Cooper singing their Oscar-nominated song Shallow from the film A Star is Born, while Bette Midler will sing best original song contender The Place Where Lost Things Go, from Mary Poppins Returns.<doc-sep>The Motion Picture Academy has announced that Queen, along with new frontman Adam Lambert, will perform at this year’s Academy Awards. Despite negative reviews and the sexual assault allegations surrounding its director Bryan Singer, Queen and Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody is nominated for five Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Editing, and Best Actor. In January, it won Golden Globes for Best Actor and Best Motion Picture—Drama. The film has also become huge box office success, grossing over $850 million worldwide. Check out the announcements from Lambert and the Academy below. Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? We welcome @QueenWillRock and @adamlambert to this year's #Oscars!https://t.co/7uDf42FbjJ — The Academy (@TheAcademy) February 18, 2019 https://www.instagram.com/p/BuCARjVAYku/<doc-sep>
The 2019 Oscars may not have a host, but the Academy will carry on, carry on with a performance from Queen. The Academy announced Monday that Queen and Adam Lambert will perform at the Oscars. It had previously been reported that the Academy was hoping the rock band would open the show, and the Academy seemed to confirm this on Twitter, suggesting in their announcement that the performance will take place at the show's start time. Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? We welcome @QueenWillRock and @adamlambert to this year's #Oscars!https://t.co/7uDf42FbjJ — The Academy (@TheAcademy) February 18, 2019 Queen was asked to perform in light of the success of Bohemian Rhapsody, the biopic centered around Freddie Mercury that made more than $800 million worldwide and is nominated for Best Picture. The Academy has also been much more desperate than usual this year to boost ratings, especially given there's no celebrity host to draw in viewers. The Oscars' producers previously told The New York Times they expect the first Oscar this year to be given out after six or seven minutes, meaning the show will probably transition right from this performance into the first award; a host's monologue typically lasts around 10 minutes. But although the Oscars may be shorter than usual, the Academy is no longer committing to a three hour running time as was its goal, having recently abandoned a plan to hand out some awards during commerical breaks. The 2019 Oscars will take place on Feb. 24.