Published on
February 16, 2026
Elvis Presley in Concert (EPiC) was born from Luhrmann’s deep dive into a film archive in a Kansas City salt mine. The ’70s Vegas concert footage he retrieved is now in Imax theatres, and Australia’s most successful director is celebrating 25 years since Moulin Rouge made him a household name.
Baz Luhrmann attends the Sydney premiere of “EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert”. Photo by Don Arnold/WireImage
The lights went down as a kangaroo and emu-emblazoned production company emblem filled the seven-storey Imax screen, framed by the words ‘Truth, Beauty, Freedom, and Love.’ True to form, the jewel-toned Bazmark logo is vivacious, punchy, and unapologetically Australian, in much the same fashion as the evocative Sydney-boy who put decadent ‘red curtain’ cinema on the global map.
The night belonged not only to Luhrmann, our greatest directorial export, but also to a Mississippi-born legend whose voice hasn’t bellowed through live theatres since 1976.
“I’d like to talk to you a little bit, ladies and gentlemen, about how I got into this business,” the King of Rock and Roll told the sold-out Melbourne audience. “There’s been a lot written and a lot said, but never from my side of the story.”
Narrated by the voice of Elvis himself, the 100-minute Elvis Presley in Concert, or EPiC as it has come to be known, is the first documentary of Luhrmann’s career. Its genesis lies in the research the director did for his last film – the 2022 Warner Bros biopic chronicling the rise of Elvis from Memphis to Hollywood to Las Vegas residency.
While deep in the archives, Luhrmann was encouraged by ‘Elvis scientist’ Ernst Jorgensen to search for reels rumoured to be buried in film studio MGM’s vaults in Kansas City. That ‘Indiana Jones’ expedition, as Luhrmann calls it, turned up a treasure trove of lost Elvis film from the 70s.
“We send someone down deep into the MGM vaults in the salt mines in Kansas City. I was getting photos back, you know, video of this door kicked in, dust, we’re like, Raiders of the Lost Ark. We found 65 boxes of negative,” Luhrmann tells the audience.
Elvis actor Austin Butler and director Baz Luhrmann attend a BAFTA celebration in February 2023 in London. (Photo by Dave Benett/Getty Images for Warner Bros.
“Angie Marchese, a curator at Graceland, was able to unearth some never-before-seen Super 8 from the Graceland Archives. It has taken over two years to restore the footage to a quality that it has never been projected at previously.”
The crown jewel of the Elvis treasure trove was a 45-minute recording of an unguarded Elvis speaking about his life. Luhrmann realised the value of what he was hearing. It would enable the King to narrate his own story for audiences.
“One of the great finds has been unheard recordings of Elvis talking about his life and his music: from the 1970 Vegas show, on tour in 1972 and even precious moments of the 1957 “gold jacket” performance in Hawaii. I knew that we could not pass up this opportunity. It was these discoveries that gave the inspiration for the new film,” says Luhrmann.
This never-before-seen footage of Elvis in full flight deserved more than just being a reference for a biopic, Luhrmann conceded; it required its own stage.
A cinematic first and the Kiwi connection
But before Elvis could grace the screen once more, the 50-year-old archival reels needed a glow up. Luhrmann knew just the man to call.
Kiwi Peter Jackson and his team, fresh from their meticulous restoration of The Beatles’ Get Back, applied the same high-fidelity treatment to Elvis. The technical hurdles were significant, Luhrmann says. Many of the reels were silent, requiring a two-year process to sync original audio with the film.
Elvis Presley in Concert. Image: Universal Pictures
The Bazmark team also went to great lengths to procure audio they didn’t have, meeting with black market sources claiming to have recordings, in an effort for every note to match the visual.
“It was only film, negative with no audio. And so began a search for the sound. I sent guys to meet with gangsters in car parks and buy it off the black market. I wish I was pretending – but actually, one of my guys was like, ‘I was scared, man. I thought they’re gonna bump me off, you know?’ It was that crazy.”
Growing up Baz
This deep-seated commitment to the audience experience is a reflection of Luhrmann’s upbringing in Herons Creek, a small country town in New South Wales. Long before he was an internationally acclaimed director, his family operated the local cinema as well as the town petrol station and a farm.
It was here, while serving choc tops to the community, that Luhrmann began to view the movie theatre as a sacred space. For people in a small town, a movie represented two precious hours of escape.
Luhrmann carried that responsibility into the DNA of Bazmark, which he founded with his partner and four-time Oscar winner, Catherine Martin, in 1997 on the back of Strictly Ballroom’s breakout success. ‘Bazmark’ is a portmanteau of both of their identities, combining his first name with the first three letters of her last name.
Baz Luhrmann, Nicole Kidman and Catherine Martin at the Art Directors Guild Awards 2023 held at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown on February 18, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images)
Around the same time, the duo shot to international acclaim with a contemporary portrayal of Romeo + Juliet starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. From Verona to Paris, they brought the vibrance of Moulin Rouge and Nicole Kidman’s Satine character to the world at the turn of the century. Hugh Jackman and Kidman’s Australia followed in 2008, and a reunion with DiCaprio for The Great Gatsby in 2013.
Austin Butler’s 2022 Elvis biopic was produced at the Village Roadshow studio on the Gold Coast during the pandemic, leading to the couple selling up their family apartment in New York City and spending more time at home in Australia. Luhrmann’s ‘Elvis’ grossed almost $290 million at the US and international box office, making it his most successful film to date.
The king of Australian cinema meets the king of rock
While ‘Elvis’ had a reported budget of US$85 million, 2025’s EPiC cost around US$10-$11 million to make, according to industry estimates.
From a business perspective, launching EPiC in IMAX is a calculated move to capitalise on the premium ticket market. Pricing reflects the scale of the experience; tickets for the film range from $23 at IMAX Melbourne up to $38 at IMAX Sydney.
Luhrmann is betting that the audience is willing to pay more for the scale, the 15,000 watts of digital sound, and the deep, bold jewel tones and glitzy cinema that have become his signature.
Elvis Presley in Concert. Image: Universal Pictures
“It’s about keeping him in the theatres… because that’s where a star, a soul, a spirit, and a talent as big as Elvis deserves to be,” Luhrmann says before leaving the Melbourne premiere en route to the airport for the French unveiling of the film.
“I’m not gonna sleep, I’m gonna keep going. from show to show to show, do whatever I got to do. EPiC is going to be on big screens in London, Paris and all over the world. We’ve even made a tour t-shirt.”
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