‘Queen Budapest’, a remastered 4K film of the band’s legendary 1986 Népstadion concert, hits Ster-Kinekor’s IMAX cinemas nationwide on 7, 10 and 11 October 2026, the first South African big-screen airing of the historic set.
The concert, filmed on 27 July 1986 during Queen’s Magic Tour, was the last the band toured with Freddie Mercury and became the first Western rock show staged in a stadium behind the Iron Curtain, according to Ster-Kinekor.
The restored version carries a fresh audio mix completed at Sir Peter Jackson’s New Zealand post-production facility.
What to expect from ‘Queen Budapest’ in South Africa
The original footage was captured in front of 80 000 fans at Népstadion, also known as The People’s Stadium, and has been rescanned and remastered in 4K for its cinema return.
The setlist includes Bohemian Rhapsody, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, I Want To Break Free and We Are The Champions.
Hungary was still under communist rule at the time of the original show, and the concert was considered significant enough that the country’s top film cameramen and technicians were assembled to record it for posterity.
That footage was first released as Live in Budapest before later being retitled Hungarian Rhapsody: Queen Live in Budapest.
A detail that has followed the concert through every re-release is Mercury singing lines of the Hungarian folk song Tavaszi Szél Vizet Áraszt, with the lyrics written on his palm so he could perform them phonetically for the Budapest crowd.
It remains one of the most referenced moments of the original broadcast.
Tickets and dates for the ‘Queen Budapest’ IMAX release
Screenings are limited to three dates only, on 7, 10 and 11 October 2026, at Ster-Kinekor’s IMAX cinemas.
Standard IMAX tickets at Ster-Kinekor typically run from around R185 to R210, though the exact price per screening depends on the cinema and time slot selected at checkout.
Bookings can be made through the Ster-Kinekor website or the SK App, with the Ticketline call centre available for queries.
Because the run is capped at three nights rather than a standard multi-week release, seats at flagship IMAX sites are expected to move quickly once the booking window opens in full.
Ster-Kinekor operates nine IMAX theatres across the country, giving audiences in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Pretoria and other major centres a shot at catching the restored concert on the biggest screens available locally.
Fans further from a flagship complex will need to plan travel around one of the three confirmed dates.
With less than five weeks until the first screening, the next milestone for Queen Budapest in South Africa is simply the countdown to opening night on 7 October, when local audiences get their first chance to see the restored Budapest set on the country’s biggest screens.
