Queen have unveiled a new 4K trailer for Queen: Budapest, the band’s landmark 1986 concert film, ahead of its 40th-anniversary release in theaters this fall.
Set to the group’s hit “We Are the Champions,” the 100-second trailer previews the newly restored film, which captures Queen performing in Budapest on July 27, 1986, during the Magic tour. The concert was a historic event: Queen became the first major Western rock band to perform a stadium show behind the Iron Curtain.
The footage has been remastered in 4K by Peter Jackson’s Park Road Post Production, using material shot by 17 cameras around the concert. The original multitrack tapes have also been remastered for the new release.
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“It’s going to be definitively the most real experience ever of us, Queen, in our glory days,” Brian May said when the anniversary edition was announced. “I think people will get lost in it and even forget they’re watching a film.”
The new trailer offers glimpses of Queen both onstage and behind the scenes, capturing the scale of the band’s historic visit to Hungary at the height of their live power.
For May — who performs with his Red Special home-made electric guitar in hand — the significance of the concert went far beyond the performance itself. Fans in Eastern Europe had spent years listening to Queen through bootleg recordings, making the chance to see the band in person an extraordinary moment.
“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,” May said.
“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,” May added. “There will never be an event quite like that again.”
Queen: Budapest will arrive in theaters and select IMAX venues on October 7, followed by a wider release on October 30 in Blu-ray, DVD, triple-vinyl, double-CD and digital formats.
