{"id":311608,"date":"2026-03-03T22:43:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T22:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/311608\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T22:43:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T22:43:09","slug":"new-elvis-documentary-epic-makes-14-million-a-win-for-music-movies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/311608\/","title":{"rendered":"New Elvis documentary ‘EPiC’ makes $14 million, a win for music movies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nearly 60 years after leaving his movie star career<\/a> behind, Elvis Presley<\/a> is once again a hit at the box office. <\/p>\n

After Baz Luhrmann\u2019s 2022 \u201cElvis\u201d<\/a> and Sofia Coppola\u2019s 2023 \u201cPriscilla,\u201d<\/a> the King of Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll cracked the box office\u2019s top 10 highest-grossing films for the third time in less than four years.<\/p>\n

Luhrmann\u2019s hybrid concert film\/documentary, \u201cEPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert,\u201d<\/a> came in fifth place domestically and earned a total of $8.5 million globally during its first weekend in wide release. So far, the screenings have earned around $14 million cumulatively.<\/p>\n

The movie, shown in more than 5,000 locations, ranked below \u201cScream 7\u201d<\/a> and \u201cGoat,\u201d<\/a> which topped the box office. \u201cEPiC\u201d marks the third-biggest opening for a documentary of all time, ahead of \u201cOne Direction: This Is Us\u201d (2013) and \u201cMichael Jackson\u2019s This Is It\u201d (2009).<\/p>\n

The strong debut is the latest sign that music-themed documentaries and concert films continue to be a box-office draw for both dedicated fans and regular moviegoers, even as studios focus on developing biopics of famous musicians such as the Beatles<\/a> and Michael Jackson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing with the advent of life being lived so much online and staring at phones is that young people particularly crave to participate in groups, to go out to an event, and music films are an event in themselves,\u201d Luhrmann said in a statement. \u201cWhat\u2019s so gratifying is to see young audiences, even some who don\u2019t know who Elvis is, who are clapping, singing and dancing along at the screen. I think we\u2019re going to see a lot more event music cinema in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

The cinematic tribute to the King of Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll was made entirely of never-before-seen footage.<\/p>\n

(Neon)<\/p>\n

Luhrmann\u2019s newest cinematic tribute<\/a> to the Memphis-raised rock star was made entirely of never-before-seen footage. The \u201cRomeo and Juliet\u201d director\u2019s research team stumbled upon this unseen footage in an underground salt mine in Kansas while making the 2022 biopic starring Austin Butler.<\/a> \u201cEPiC\u201d follows Presley as he returns to live music at his Las Vegas residency after his stint as an actor. <\/p>\n

The hour and 36-minute feature, which reportedly cost about $10 million to make, began its limited release on Feb. 20, opening at 325 locations. It also had a one-week stint in IMAX, making it the highest-grossing week ever for a documentary in IMAX. <\/p>\n

Elissa Federoff, the chief distribution officer at Neon<\/a>, who\u2019s handling the film\u2019s domestic distribution, said that audiences are connecting to \u201cEPiC\u201d because it \u201coffers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see Elvis at his peak.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe big-screen environment takes it to the next level. Audiences of all ages can immerse themselves in these incredible performances, and doing so with friends, family, and a full theater makes it unforgettable,\u201d Federoff added. \u201cThat\u2019s the power of music films \u2014 they transform theaters into spaces for extraordinary, shared experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEPiC\u201d is the latest addition to music\u2019s ever-growing footprint in movie theaters. Last year, screenings for several music documentaries and concert films were able to rake in a couple of million dollars at the box office. \u201cIt\u2019s Never Over, Jeff Buckley\u201d<\/a> earned nearly $1.5 million, \u201cPink Floyd: Live at Pompeii\u201d made $6.4 million and Sony Pictures\u2019 \u201cBecoming Led Zeppelin\u201d<\/a> raked in more than $14.6 million globally, according to Box Office Mojo\u2019s worldwide data. <\/p>\n

Marc Allenby, chief executive of Trafalgar Releasing, a U.K. company focused on distributing music movies, says Taylor Swift<\/a> has helped to accelerate the popularity of music cinema.<\/p>\n

In 2023, the singer put the concert film \u201cTaylor Swift: The Eras Tour\u201d<\/a> in theaters, earning over $260 million worldwide. (Trafalgar helped distribute the movie to audiences outside the U.S. and Canada.) Last year, Swift also hosted screenings for her latest album, \u201cTaylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl,\u201d<\/a> which grossed $50 million globally. <\/p>\n

Trafalgar has expanded its slate to keep up with demand. Last year, the company released 39 movies, up from 27 in 2019. Another documentary from Trafalgar \u2014 \u201cTwenty One Pilots: More Than We Ever Imagined\u201d \u2014 came in fourth last weekend, with $3.7 million in ticket sales domestically and grossed $6.7 million globally. <\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

\u201cEPiC\u201d follows Presley as he returns to live music at his Las Vegas residency after his stint as an actor. <\/p>\n

(Neon)<\/p>\n

\u201cLive music is evergreen property … as long as there\u2019s a music industry, then there\u2019s an event cinema industry to support it,\u201d Allenby said. \u201cThere\u2019s a kind of greater interest in the potential of what bringing new audiences to the cinema can do, both in terms of your revenue and audience. But expanding what a cinema is \u2014 it is an entertainment hub or cultural hub.\u201d<\/p>\n

At one of the first IMAX<\/a> showings last week, fans in reclining seats danced and audibly cheered inside AMC\u2019s Century City theater, as Presley appeared as clear and as sweaty as ever.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like a live concert. We went to the Prince anniversary [\u201cPrince: Sign o\u2019 the Times\u201d returned to theaters in August] and everyone was singing too. I like sharing in a communal space,\u201d said moviegoer Rachel Bailit. \u201cIt\u2019s very alive. It\u2019s like going to a stadium.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her friend John Lacy, added, \u201cIt is more affordable than a concert. I prefer to be in a live venue. But that opportunity doesn\u2019t come up too often. There\u2019s nothing like the live experience. But, there\u2019s a lot to be said for sitting in a theater with people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amanda Walencewicz, another attendee, said she\u2019ll go see any concert film in theaters, as they\u2019re her favorite movie genre. She says music movies also cause her listening habits to shift.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you go to see a music biopic or a documentary, you forget how many hits some artists have. It makes you want to listen to their music in the car on the way home,\u201d Walencewicz said.<\/p>\n

The correlation between listening to an artist\u2019s music after seeing a documentary or a concert film isn\u2019t exclusive to the cinema experience. When documentaries on streaming platforms gain traction, artists also often see a spike in listens.<\/p>\n

When \u201cBecoming Led Zeppelin\u201d hit Netflix last year, it became the most-watched music documentary across all streaming platforms. The documentary drove the British rock band\u2019s global streams to their highest ever weekly peak at the time, hitting 40.4 million. Led Zeppelin\u2019s streams also maintained a new baseline average of 38 million per week through January, which is 16% over the previous period.<\/p>\n

Over the course of its limited release and one week in Imax, there was a \u201cslight uptick\u201d in listens for Presley\u2019s catalog both nationally and in the L.A. area, per music data analyst Luminate. <\/p>\n

And Luhrmann isn\u2019t done yet with the story of America\u2019s most famous rock \u2018n\u2019 roll star. As he plots the screening of \u201cEPiC\u201d at the Las Vegas Sphere<\/a>, the Aussie also plans to adapt Presley\u2019s life into a stage production, similar to what he did with \u201cMoulin Rouge! The Musical.\u201d<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nearly 60 years after leaving his movie star career behind, Elvis Presley is once again a hit at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311609,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[2991,9308,5784,859,9379,156,31125,169549,169548,31488,435,409,157,111,139,69,9380,2839,6456,169550],"class_list":{"0":"post-311608","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-audience","9":"tag-baz-luhrmann","10":"tag-box-office","11":"tag-documentary","12":"tag-elvis","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-epic","15":"tag-full-theater","16":"tag-hybrid-concert-film","17":"tag-last-year","18":"tag-movie","19":"tag-movies","20":"tag-music","21":"tag-new-zealand","22":"tag-newzealand","23":"tag-nz","24":"tag-presley","25":"tag-screening","26":"tag-taylor-swift","27":"tag-trafalgar-releasing"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}