Its box office success-earning more than $850 million worldwide as of this writing, it’s far and away the most lucrative music biopic ever-is staggering. That mystifying mix has defined the Queen brand at least since the mid 1970s, and Bohemian Rhapsody sits at the same crossroads of wondrous entertainment and cynical commercialism. The whole affair was a mystifying mix of crowd-pleasing technological marvel and crass commodity capitalism.

Queen’s iconic crest graced the street’s entry and exit archways, and an immersive pop-up store hawking items like Queen T-shirts, photographs, prints, and fridge magnets greeted passersby who faithfully trekked to the end of the walkway.

Once ground zero for London’s boho-hippie swinging 1960s scene, Carnaby Street was bursting with smartphone-wielding shoppers and tourists, staring up at the spectacle with their mouths agape, as if making first contact with a hovering alien spacecraft.ĭesigned to amp up buzz for the recent Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, the Carnaby Street “art installation” was a temporary cross-promotional venture by real estate investment trust Shaftesbury, movie studio 20th Century Fox, and production company Regency Enterprises. His instantly recognizable lyrics-about an emotionally-spiralling narrator who can no longer distinguish reality from fantasy-were strung up from buildings, decorating the length of the pedestrian thoroughfare. Strolling down London’s bustling Carnaby Street last December, I looked up to see Freddie Mercury’s wickedly brilliant opening lyrics from “Bohemian Rhapsody” in the form of colossal neon signs.

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