This chapter addresses the apparently contradictory idea of a queer popular. Queerness is that which destabilizes systems and norms, and thus it seems opposed to cultural normalcy. Yet what are we to make of wildly popular gay-themed films from Bollywood, Nollywood, and Southeast Asia? This chapter counters the need for a critical, anti–homo-normative queerness with popular cinema’s potential for unregulated pleasures and transgressive desires. It considers a range of popular genre films, including Thai transgender sports films, a Balkan blockbuster, comedies of tolerance, and even actively homophobic genres such as Nigerian Christian melodrama. These readings demonstrate the complexity with which...