Freddie Mercury’s Final Filmed Queen Concert Is Going Colossal
Mark your calendars on us: Freddie Mercury is heading back to the biggest screen possible.
Queen Budapest, capturing Queen’s historic July 27, 1986 concert at Budapest’s Népstadion during The Magic Tour, will open in cinemas and IMAX worldwide beginning October 7, 2026 for a limited theatrical run.
And an important distinction: Budapest was Queen’s final filmed live performance with Freddie Mercury, not the band’s final concert with him. The show was filmed just five dates before Queen’s last performance with Mercury at Knebworth Park on August 9, 1986.
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QUEEN, BIGGER THAN EVER
The final filmed Queen live performance with Freddie Mercury has been restored in 4K with newly remixed audio for cinemas and IMAX.
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Queen Budapest Has Been Restored From the Original 35mm Film
The concert has been restored in 4K from the original 35mm footage by Peter Jackson’s Park Road Post Production facility in New Zealand, with newly remixed audio sourced from the original multitrack recordings.
Brian May is already selling the scale of the upgrade, saying the image quality makes it feel as though you are there — and that in IMAX, it is going to be “colossal.”
The Budapest Show Was a Major Moment Behind the Iron Curtain
The concert has another layer of history beyond being Mercury’s final professionally filmed Queen performance. Sony Music Vision describes it as the first Western stadium rock show staged behind the Iron Curtain, making the Budapest date a significant cultural event as well as a giant Queen show.
The set captured Queen deep into its live peak, with performances of “We Will Rock You,” “We Are the Champions,” “Under Pressure,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “A Kind of Magic,” “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” “Who Wants to Live Forever” and more, plus an acoustic arrangement of the traditional Hungarian song “Tavaszi Szél Vizet Áraszt.”
Brian May and Roger Taylor Are Looking Back Too
The 2026 theatrical edition adds a brand-new interview with Brian May and Roger Taylor, reflecting on the Budapest performance and the cultural weight of the tour.
Roger Taylor has described The Magic Tour as the last tour Queen ever did with Freddie and remembers the band as being very much at its peak. Four decades later, the footage is now being positioned to let audiences experience that peak at an entirely different scale.
The film will screen across more than 2,000 cinemas in over 50 territories. The restored audio also arrives October 30 on 3LP, 2CD and digital, with DVD and Blu-ray editions scheduled for the same date.
Watch the Official Trailer for Queen Budapest
The official 2026 trailer previews the newly restored 4K presentation of Queen’s July 1986 Budapest concert ahead of its October 7 cinema and IMAX release.
Source: Queen, Sony Music Vision and Trafalgar Releasing.
