{"id":176642,"date":"2025-12-10T04:51:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T04:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/176642\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T04:51:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T04:51:11","slug":"watch-the-teaser-for-baz-luhrmanns-epic-elvis-concert-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/176642\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch the Teaser for Baz Luhrmann’s Epic Elvis Concert Film"},"content":{"rendered":"

You can\u2019t keep the king down. Not when long lost footage of his time in the most Elvis-assosciated city of all was discovered during the production of Baz Luhrmann\u2019s Elvis, edited into a full feature film that premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, and is now headed for a theatrical release: this is EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert, born from archival footage, including Presley\u2019s legendary Las Vegas residency in the 1970s.<\/p>\n

The trailer states it\u2019s more than a documentary or a concert film. Luhrmann\u2019s teases of an Australian theatrical run<\/a> have come true via a dedicated IMAX release set for February 20th, 2026, making this the best look we\u2019ll have had at Elvis Presley in his prime in years.<\/p>\n

In Variety\u2019s review<\/a> of the film\u2019s premiere in September, it\u2019s revealed that Luhrmann was originally going to incorporate the footage into his 2022 film, but decided against it. This was a treasure trove of 68 boxes of 35mm and 8mm concert and rehearsal footage in the Warner Bros. archives, including outtakes from Elvis: That\u2019s the Way It Is (1970) and Elvis on Tour (1972), the two major Elvis concert films, plus audiotapes of unheard interviews.<\/p>\n

You see every side of Presley\u2019s performances in the trailer, with the opening of Presley nervously tapping his feet behind the curtain before his first Vegas show to the tune of Strauss\u2019 Also sprach Zarathustra, and triumphantly ending on a sweaty, seemingly post-concert, smile flashed at the camera while the bombastic finale of Battle Hymn of the Republic plays on.<\/p>\n

Variety\u2019s Owen Gleiberman declares the film to be among the greatest concerts you can remember, saying \u201cThe movie is a revelation, because for 96 minutes it shows you just how intoxicating Elvis Presley was when he began to perform live in Las Vegas in 1969 and the early \u201970s. Many don\u2019t quite think of him that way. There\u2019s still a mythology hanging over Elvis during this period \u2014 the Vegas glitter, the white suit with the half-sun cape, the giant finger rings and the car-grille sunglasses, the \u201cThus Spoke Zarathustra\u201d-from-\u201c2001\u201d bombastic musical intros, the sweat pouring off his shag-carpet sideburns, the onstage karate moves. It can all add up to a vision of the king of rock \u2018n\u2019 roll presiding over a kingdom of kitsch.\u201d<\/p>\n

EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert releases in IMAX on February 20, 2026, and wider theatres on February 27. Watch the trailer below.<\/p>\n

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