NEON says EPiC earned $3.2M in IMAX, expands Baz Luhrmann Elvis film wide

NEON reported that EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert earned $3.2 million across 325 IMAX theaters during a one-week Feb. 20 engagement, a performance that cleared the way for the film’s expansion into general release on Feb. 27, 2026. The IMAX run, which played in venues including the Malco Paradiso in Memphis, finished seventh on the weekend box-office chart and offered a high-profile test of whether archival spectacle can translate into broader commercial traction.

Baz Luhrmann’s follow-up to his 2022 biopic repackages long-lost 1970s Las Vegas footage and newly reworked audio into what he and reviewers call an exercise in cinematic restoration and imagination. The movie assembles material originally shot for MGM’s Elvis: That's The Way It Is (1970) and Elvis on Tour (1972), supplemented by rare 8mm and 16mm film from the Graceland archive and remastered over roughly two years. Luhrmann has framed the project as “an imagined concert,” a creative conceit that builds single performances from multiple nights and sometimes inserts rehearsal takes into stage sequences, an approach he calls “an imaginative leap.”

The film’s technical pedigree is part of its sales pitch. The archival footage was photographed like a Hollywood feature, NPR notes, using anamorphic 35mm and giant, ultra-bright Klieg lights; Luhrmann has said the intense lighting made audiences feel self-conscious because “they were actually making a movie, they weren't just shooting a concert.” Graceland’s announcement framed the result as transforming “unearthed archival material into an electrifying cinematic odyssey that captures Elvis at his best; raw, human, eccentrically humorous, intimate and electric.”

Early critical response and festival reaction bolstered the theatrical push. The film “debuted to critical acclaim and a standing ovation at the Toronto International Film Festival, people even danced in the aisles,” according to Graceland’s release, and critics have called the project a revival of concert-film energy, Vogue called it “a burst of concert-film adrenaline” while Variety labeled it “One of the Most Exciting Concert Films You’ve Ever Seen.” NPR’s Tim Greiving headlined his piece that Luhrmann “will make you fall in love with Elvis Presley,” an endorsement that helps frame the movie as both cultural reclamation and entertainment.

On the business side, EPiC’s IMAX-first rollout exemplifies a premium-experience strategy that studios and rights holders are increasingly using to monetize legacy catalogs. The film is produced by Sony Music Vision, Bazmark, and Authentic Studios and is being distributed by NEON with Universal Pictures International assisting in global theatrical plans. Graceland highlighted the commercial precedent: Luhrmann’s 2022 Elvis earned nearly $300 million worldwide, setting a high-water mark that now serves as a benchmark for franchise potential.

Soundtrack and merchandise are integral to the release strategy. New musical work includes collaborations with music producer Jamieson Shaw, a PNAU remix “Don’t Fly Away” released Feb. 20, and a reimagined mash-up titled “Wearin’ That Night Life Look.” Graceland is also selling an exclusive red marble vinyl edition for $35.98 plus shipping, a direct-to-fan product that signals how estates now treat theatrical windows as multipronged revenue events.

Culturally, EPiC raises questions about the line between preservation and reinterpretation. Luhrmann’s reordering and vocal augmentation revive Presley for contemporary audiences but also foreground how editing choices reframe historical performance. Commercially, the film will be watched as a test case: can repurposed archival material, packaged with premium formats and direct merch tie-ins, drive box-office returns and streaming interest in an era where attention is fragmented across platforms? For Elvis’s estate and the film industry, the early IMAX numbers suggest there is appetite for cinematic resurrection.