Sony Music Vision announced that QUEEN BUDAPEST, the final filmed Queen live performance with Freddie Mercury, will be presented in cinemas and IMAX worldwide beginning October 7 through Trafalgar Releasing.

 

Filmed on July 27, 1986, at Budapest’s Népstadion, during the band’s ‘The Magic Tour,’ the concert has been restored in 4K from the original filmed 35mm footage by Sir Peter Jackson’s Park Road Post Production facility in New Zealand, with newly remixed audio from the original multitrack recordings. 

The show was professionally filmed on 35mm movie film by 17 cameras. The Hungarian government approved the entire operation, which was a first for a Communist State. An edited version of the show was broadcast in December 1986 throughout the Communist Bloc, including China, Poland, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Yugoslavia and Mongolia, as well as to 59 Hungarian cinemas on New Year’s Day 1987, a first for a Western rock act.

For Queen’s Brian May & Roger Taylor, the show in Budapest wasn’t just another date on what was a huge tour for the band, it held much deeper meaning.

Brian May: “For years, fans behind the Iron Curtain had been able to listen to Queen music only on illegal cassettes. It was a forbidden thing to listen to rock bands like us, so to see them play in a live show would have been unthinkable. This concert, when they could finally come and see us live in person and interact with us, was a huge emotional moment for them and also for us. It felt like a very big deal – you could feel that incredible energy. There will never be an event quite like that again. Perhaps the most memorable highlight of all was performing that beautiful Hungarian folk song, which Freddie and I had learned for the occasion. Not a dry eye!”

Roger Taylor: “We did love to think that the music could transcend the politics, the political barriers, and that was sort of part of our ethos, to actually bring the audience into the show and make them feel part of the show. I know Freddie tried to learn this folk song, but he had the words written phonetically on the back of his hand. When the audience just started singing, we realized, wow, music really can be a great cause.”

Brian May, “Peter Jackson’s team have done a magnificent job of restoring the original film footage, at the highest resolution ever; it's pristine and the quality is breathtaking. I think you’re going to love it. For the sound, we’ve been able to do some top-quality restoration work as well. Now, in IMAX and movie theatres, it’s going to be definitively the most real experience ever of us, Queen, in our glory days. I think people will get lost in it and even forget they're watching a film.”

The 4K restoration of QUEEN BUDAPEST will have its world premiere at the Budapest Classics Film Marathon on September 15, hosted by the National Film Institute of Hungary, as part of the festival’s program celebrating restored and rediscovered cinema. A UK premiere will take place in London on September 30, with further details to follow. The 4K digitization of the original negatives was carried out by the National Film Institute (NFI), Hungary's FilmLab in Budapest. The original elements of the film were preserved by NFI Film Archive in Budapest since 1986.

 

QUEEN BUDAPEST will be released globally in cinemas and IMAX from October 7 for a limited time only, in partnership with Trafalgar Releasing. Tickets will be on sale later this summer. Fans are encouraged to sign up at the official website at QueenBudapest.com for further information and to be alerted when pre-sale tickets are available. 

 

QUEEN BUDAPEST will be accompanied by a multi-format package via Hollywood Records in North America and Legacy Recordings, the catalogue division of Sony Music, internationally on October 30. The soundtrack, newly remixed from the original multitrack by Queen’s studio team, will be released alongside the Blu-Ray, DVD, CD & Digital editions as a 3LP vinyl set for the very first time.

QUEEN BUDAPEST is directed by János Zsombolyai.