Sep 11, 2012 at 10:39 AM | Music News | By Rock Square

When Rock Square Googled “Queen news” today, we found numerous links to stories about Her Royal Highness skydiving with James Bond. Not quite the Queen we had in mind. But we did manage to discover some exciting news about the British rock band once led by Freddie Mercury.

From Sept. 20, cinemas across the world will be screening a 1986 concert film, Hungarian Rhapsody: Queen live in Budapest. The concert has been remastered in high definition and Surround Sound and the cinema presentation of the 90 minute concert will be preceded by a 25 minute documentary about the band.

As part of its Magic Tour, the British four piece ventured behind the Iron Curtain for the stadium concert in front of 80,000 people. (Two years previously, Queen snuck through another curtain when it played at the Sun City resort in South Africa, much to the ire of anti-Apartheid activists who advocated a cultural boycott against the country.) The concert film was directed by respected Hungarian filmmaker János Zsombolyai and includes the songs “Bohemian Rhapsody,” ‘We Will Rock You,” “It’s a Kind of Magic,” “I Want to Break Free,” “Radio Gaga,” “We are the Champions,” and “Crazy Little Thing Called Love.” The tour turned out to be Queen’s final outing with Mercury, though he did cut two more albums with the band despite suffering from AIDS.

In a joint statement, Queen guitarist and drummer Roger Taylor said, “We’re delighted that Queen fans across the world will finally have the chance to relive this amazing moment for the band. We knew a stadium concert in Budapest was ground–breaking, but hadn’t quite anticipated what a historic night it would turn out to be. The concert looks fantastic on the cinema screen in all its digitally re-mastered glory and the documentary does a great job of setting the scene—it really was an extraordinary time in the band’s history.”

For details on cinema screenings in the USA, visit www.QueenOnScreen.com. For details on cinema screenings elsewhere across the globe, visit Queen’s official website, queenonline.com. In the meantime, check out the trailer below.

 

Several other Queen releases are primed for the small screen. On Sept 25, Eagle Rock will release a new documentary about Freddie Mercury’s life and activities outside of Queen titled The Great Pretender (see trailer below). A 2 DVD set of Greatest Video Hits has also just been released by Eagle Rock Entertainment. The 33 song set has been digitally upgraded for 5.1 DTS Surround Sound and includes commentary from May and Taylor, who recently teamed with pop singer Jessie J for a medley of Queen hits at the closing ceremony of the British Olympics.

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