EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert, Baz Luhrmann's documentary built from some 59 hours of long-lost Elvis footage, has scored four nominations at the 11th Annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards — Best Music Documentary, Best Archival Documentary, Best First Documentary Feature for Luhrmann himself, and Best Editing for Jonathan Redmond. The film's official Instagram page broke the news, and the nominations put the King back in awards-season contention.
What the film is
EPiC draws on a treasure trove discovered while Luhrmann was making his 2022 Elvis biopic: 68 boxes of 35mm and 8mm footage found in the Warner Bros. film archives, stored in salt mines in Kansas. Much of it arrived without sound and took about two years to restore and sync. The film features long-lost footage of Elvis's 1970 Las Vegas residency at the International Hotel — capturing his concert years of 1969 to 1977 — plus remastered 16mm footage from the 1972 film Elvis On Tour and 8mm film from the Graceland archives.
Most striking of all: a 45-minute audio recording of Elvis telling his life story was uncovered and forms the film's narration. As Luhrmann put it: "We made the decision that we should let Elvis sing and tell his story himself." The director describes the result as "neither fully a documentary nor a concert film, but something new in the Elvis canon… that befits the magnitude of Elvis as a performer but also offers deeper revelations of his humanity and inner life." The 97-minute film is distributed in the US by NEON.
The awards run
The Critics Choice Association announced the nominations on October 13, 2026. Winners will be revealed at a gala on Sunday, November 8, 2026 at the Edison Ballroom in Manhattan, New York City — at 4pm PT / 7pm ET — with the ceremony available to view online at CriticsChoice.com.
Editor Jonathan Redmond, nominated for Best Editing, offered a characteristically Elvis-sized take: "The big man with the big voice deserves the big screen." Fan reaction on the film's Instagram announcement has been effusive, with one commenter calling it the "best Elvis documentation" and another asking: "Can we get it back in theaters now?"
A certified hit
The film's theatrical run backs up the acclaim. After its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, 2025, it got advance screenings at Graceland on January 8, 2026 — what would have been Elvis's 91st birthday — followed by an IMAX-exclusive week from February 20, 2026 and a wide theatrical release on February 27, 2026. It has grossed $23.5 million worldwide ($13.6 million domestic plus $9.9 million international), holds 95% with critics and 99% with audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, and its RCA soundtrack topped the UK Official Album Soundtrack Chart in the week of March 3, 2026 while reaching No. 6 on Billboard's US Soundtrack Chart.
The takeaway
Four Critics Choice nominations confirm what audiences already decided: Luhrmann's archival deep-dive is not just a concert film — it's the definitive screen portrait of Elvis in his prime. On November 8, we'll learn whether the Critics Choice voters agree.
Watch: The official trailer for "EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert," with newly restored footage of Elvis's Las Vegas residency and Elvis telling his own story.
Music in this post's reel: Kevin MacLeod - Silly Fun (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 3.0