Ultra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Hear ye, hear ye: Queen are, without a doubt, the champions of the world. And now, we can also crown them the kings of IMAX and 4K UHD as well. In conjunction with Sony Music Vision, the venerable British band have just announced that Budapest — their final filmed live performance with Freddie Mercury at the helm that took place 40 years ago to the day on July 27, 1986 — will be presented in cinemas and IMAX worldwide beginning October 7, 2026, through Trafalgar Releasing. Physical editions of Budapest will be forthcoming three weeks later on October 30, 2026. (More on those in just a bit.)

The stats are these. Budapest, which was directed by János Zsombolyai, was captured on July 27, 1986, at Népstadion in Budapest, Hungary, during the Queen’s “The Magic Tour” — a momentous occasion in and of itself, as Queen were the first Western rock band to perform behind the Iron Curtain.

The film for Budapest has been (in their words now — and I believe them) “meticulously 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 having been done via the original multitrack recordings.

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 have been preserved by NFI Film Archive in Budapest since 1986.)

To give you a taste of just how commanding Mercury and Queen were onstage together at the height of their powers just a year after the band’s truly electrifying and magical set at Live Aid in July 1985, check out their July 27, 1986, performance of “Radio Ga Ga (Live in Budapest)” via its official YouTube clip below. (If seeing that endless sea of hands-above-heads clapping together in unison during the “Ga Ga” choruses doesn’t give you chills, then we need to talk.)

This clip alone gives one the sense that what can be expected from the full restoration will likely be a step up (or three) from the 2012 Island BD/DVD/CD release known as Hungarian Rhapsody (Live in Budapest).

As noted above, in addition to the international IMAX and cinema showings to come — which you can find more about at QueenBudapest.com, where you can also sign up for ticket-availability alerts — Budapest will also see a number of physical releases as well just a few weeks later on October 30, 2026.

All physical editions of Budapest are available for preorder here at Queen’s official site store. The 4K UHD Blu-ray goes for $29.98, while the standard BD sports an SRP of $26.98, and the DVD goes for $24.98. Fellow audiophiles and/or Queen completists (like yours truly) can also preorder the 3LP edition (shown above) for $79.98, and the 2CD version (shown below) goes for $19.98. As briefly mentioned earlier, the audio for Budapest has been newly remixed from the original multitrack recordings by Queen’s studio team.

For the literal record, so to speak, the 3LP, 2CD, and digital versions of Budapest are being released via Hollywood Records in North America, while Columbia/Legacy is handling the equivalent international releases of those three audio-centric versions in addition to the worldwide releases of the 4K UHD BD, standard BD, and DVD editions.

More Budapest data now, via the official press materials as accompanied by the usual MM commentary sweeteners. Queen’s Budapest performance was professionally filmed on 35mm movie film by 17 of Hungary’s “best” cameramen. All told, 17 cameras and 25 miles of film — all that was available in the country at the time — were deployed for the shoot, and the Hungarian government approved the entire operation, which was a first for a Communist State.

An edited version of the Budapest concert 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 — another first for a Western rock act.

Observed co-founding guitarist Brian May, seen above riffing onstage with Mercury, “The image quality is wonderful. You’ll feel like you’re there. In IMAX, it is going to be colossal.” Clarified co-founding drummer Roger Taylor, “It turned out to be the last ever tour we did with Freddie. We were very much at a peak. [I have] great memories of that tour.”

For both May and Taylor, the Budapest gig wasn’t just another date on what was already a huge tour for the band — it was something that held a much, much deeper meaning. “For years, fans behind the Iron Curtain had been able to listen to Queen music only on illegal cassettes,” May pointed out. “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 [‘Tavaszi Szél Vizet Áraszt’], which Freddie and I had learned for the occasion. Not a dry eye!”

Added 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.”

Continued 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.”

“Queen Budapest represents a remarkable moment in both music and cultural history,” said Tom Mackay, President, Sony Music Vision, in that aforementioned official press statement. “The film not only documents an extraordinary performance, but also the connection between the band and an audience breaking through real barriers at the time. The restoration allows that moment to be experienced in a way that feels immediate and relevant for audiences today.”

Peter Jackson stated, “As longtime fans of Queen, we were thrilled when they asked Park Road Post to restore the Budapest concert footage. It has been a rare privilege to breathe new life into such an iconic moment in music history. We look forward to a whole new audience participating in the original band’s final live performance, captured on film. They will rock you!!!”

The 4K restoration of Queen’s Budapest will have its world premiere at the Budapest Classics Film Marathon on September 15, 2026, which is being 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, 2026, with further details to follow.

A few more final grafs now about the overall cultural context of the Budapest show. While the available 80,000 tickets had indeed sold out — with some fans having traveled from as far away as Russia and Poland — an estimated 45,000 people listened to the show outside Népstadion.

After Budapest, Queen would only play five more shows with Mercury out front, as their touring days with Freddie forever ended just one month later in a final show at Knebworth Park in England on August 9, 1986. Mercury sadly passed away a mere five years later at the relatively young age of 45 on November 24, 1991, but his and Queen’s artistic legacy has only grown stronger and stronger every day since.