This month marks what would have been Elvis Presley’s 90th birthday and at the proclamation ceremony at Graceland there were some big teases.
Elvis Presley Enterprises is developing new Elvis films to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the King’s death in 2027.
And as previously teased by Elvis biopic director Baz Luhrmann, there’s a new project afoot featuring unseen footage of the King.
Posting a video of himself outside Graceland, the filmmaker announced his documentary film, which will be released in cinemas.
Sharing the first look teaser trailer below, he wrote: “I’m really thrilled that I am finally able to announce that we have all been working hard and collaborating on unearthing and showcasing a treasure trove of unseen footage, sound and other materials to create something special for the big (and small) screen.”
Much like Peter Jackson’s retrospective The Beatles: Get Back, Baz has had access to a ton of unused footage from the classic Elvis documentary films. These include the 1970 Las Vegas residency concert movie Elvis: That’s The Way It Is and 1972 concert road film, Elvis on Tour. The unseen negatives were unearthed by the filmmaker when Warner Bros allowed him to dive into their underground salt mine vaults located in Kansas, while he was researching for his biopic. Also among the treasure trove was rare behind-the-scenes audio that had been feared lost, including recordings of Elvis telling stories about his life.
Baz told Deadline: “We’re still very much in the middle of creating this work, but there has been so much talk and such enthusiasm for this, that I felt now it was time to share what has been happening with it. I can’t say much more about it, except that I wouldn’t call it a documentary, or a concert film; our aim here is to make something new in the Elvis canon.” His teaser trailer ends with “2025,” so here’s hoping a release will come later this year.
