‘EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert’ Doc From ‘Elvis’ Biopic Director Gets Rave Reviews

Share This:

A scene from EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert, via Toronto International Film Festival.

A new documentary, EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert, drawn from newly discovered performance, rehearsal footage, and spoken audio recordings, has received rave reviews following its September 6, 2025, worldwide premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. The feature-length film, from director Baz Luhrmann, comes three years after his acclaimed biopic, Elvis, from 2022.

As Luhrmann told an industry gathering last May, “During the making of Elvis, we went on a search for rumored unseen footage from the iconic 1970s concert films Elvis: That’s The Way It Is and Elvis on Tour. My initial thought was that we may be able to restore the unused footage (if we could find it) and use it in our Elvis feature. I had researchers go into the Warner Bros. film vaults buried in underground salt mines and, to the astonishment of all, we uncovered 68 boxes of film negative, as well as unseen 8mm footage.”

It took two years to restore the footage to a quality that it has never been projected at previously. The director added, “One of the great finds has been unheard recordings of Elvis talking about his life and his music. It was this that gave the inspiration for EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert, which is not specifically a documentary, nor a concert film: Elvis takes the audience through the journey of his life, weaving never-before-seen footage with iconic performances that have never been presented in this way, from the 1970 Vegas show, on tour in 1972 [and more].”

In his Sept. 7 review for Variety, Owen Gleiberman called the film “extraordinary.” “Think back to the greatest concert you ever saw,” he wrote. “Now think back to the greatest moment in that concert, the one that gave you chills you can still feel. That’s the kind of experience I predict you’ll have watching EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert.”

The Wrap wrote, “It’s the most imaginative, generous and entertaining look at a time in which Elvis’ comeback still had real life to it.”

The film, from Sony Music Vision, in partnership with Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, doesn’t have an official theatrical release date yet. Luhrmann’s Elvis biopic took in $288 million at the worldwide box-office and earned eight Academy Award nominations including Best Picture and Best Actor for its star, Austin Butler.