Rocketman (film)

This article is about the 2019 Elton John biopic. For the 1997 film, see RocketMan (1997 film). For the 1954 film, see The Rocket Man (1954 film). For the 2009 U.S. space program documentary see, see Rocketmen (film).

Rocketman
Taron Egerton (portraying as Elton John, seen wearing a Los Angeles Dodgers baseball uniform) plays the piano in front of concert goers at a stadium. On the film's title, stars are placed in the letters "O" and "A".
UK theatrical release poster
Directed byDexter Fletcher
Written byLee Hall
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyGeorge Richmond
Edited byChris Dickens
Music byMatthew Margeson
Production
companies
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release dates
  • 16 May 2019 (2019-05-16) (Cannes)
  • 22 May 2019 (2019-05-22) (United Kingdom)
  • 31 May 2019 (2019-05-31) (United States)
Running time
121 minutes[1]
Countries
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$40 million[2]
Box office$195.3 million[2]

Rocketman is a 2019 biographical jukebox musical drama film based on the life, music, and career of British musician Elton John. The film focuses on the story of John in his early days in England as a prodigy at the Royal Academy of Music through his musical partnership with Bernie Taupin. The story is told through his music and is titled after John's 1972 song "Rocket Man". Directed by Dexter Fletcher and written by Lee Hall, the film stars Taron Egerton as John, with Jamie Bell as Taupin, Richard Madden as John Reid, and Bryce Dallas Howard as Sheila Eileen, John's mother. A British-American venture, the film was produced by New Republic Pictures, Marv Films and Rocket Pictures, and was distributed by Paramount Pictures.

The film had been in development since the 2000s before it was announced in 2013 that Focus Features acquired the rights to the film and director Michael Gracey (who eventually served as executive producer) was attached to direct the film with actor Tom Hardy set to star. After both Hardy and Gracey left the project following creative differences between Focus and John that halted an initial production start in fall 2014, the project languished for several years until Paramount Pictures and New Republic Pictures took over as distributor in April 2018, where Egerton and Fletcher signed on. Principal photography began in August 2018 and was completed later that year.[when?] John served as executive producer, while his husband David Furnish produced the film through their Rocket Pictures, alongside Matthew Vaughn's Marv Films.

Rocketman premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on 16 May 2019, and was theatrically released in the United Kingdom on 22 May 2019 and in the United States on 31 May 2019. It grossed $195 million worldwide against its $40 million budget and received positive reviews from critics, with praise for Egerton's performance.[3] The film was the first by a major studio to include a gay male sex scene.[4] For his performance, Egerton received numerous nominations, including the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role and Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role, and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. John and Taupin also won Best Original Song at the 77th Golden Globe Awards, Best Song at the 25th Critics' Choice Awards, and Best Original Song at the 92nd Academy Awards for "(I'm Gonna) Love Me Again", and earned four nominations at the 73rd British Academy Film Awards, including Outstanding British Film.

  1. ^ "Rocketman (15)". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  2. ^ a b "Rocketman (2019)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  3. ^ Campbell, Christopher (23 July 2019). "Rocketman First Reviews: Taron Egerton Is a Force in "Goosebump-Inducing" Elton John Biopic". Rotten Tomatoes.
  4. ^ Siegel, Tatiana (16 May 2019). "'Rocketman' Blazes Trail as First Major Studio Film to Depict Gay Male Sex". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 17 May 2019.