Universal Pictures Content Group and Bleecker Street’s event cinema division Crosswalk announced today that they have acquired International and North American rights, respectively, to George Michael: The Faith Tour, the electric concert film featuring recently rediscovered, never-before-seen footage of the global superstar at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy during the European leg of the Faith Tour in 1988.
Directed by longtime George Michael collaborators Andy Morahan (“Last Christmas”; “Faith”; “Careless Whisper”) and David Austin (George Michael “Freedom Uncut”, “George Michael at the Palais Garnier, Paris”). Screening with an opening original short film by Mary McCartney (If These Walls Could Sing; “Mary McCartney Serves It Up!”) and produced by George Michael Entertainment and Globe Originals, in partnership with Mercury Studios, the film is slated for a late 2026 worldwide release in theatres in premium formats. In the US, Crosswalk will be partnering with IMAX® on exclusive early access screenings.
A triumph in archival filmmaking, George Michael: The Faith Tour transforms footage assembled from a 14-camera shoot captured on 35mm film over two nights, into an extraordinary cinematic event and audio experience. The film opens with an original short, Finding Faith, which features voiceover from Michael during an unheard interview alongside unseen images captured by legendary American photographer Herb Ritts, and behind-the-scenes footage of the “Faith” music video. The deal was negotiated by Helen Parker for Universal Pictures Content Group and Avy Eschenasy for Bleecker Street.
“George at the height of the Faith tour was simply electrifying — there’s a magnetic force of charisma and connection with the audience that feels just as powerful today as it did then,” said Helen Parker, EVP, Universal Pictures Content Group. “To see these performances brought to life on the big screen, in such a cinematic and immersive way, makes this incredibly special — particularly for those who were there or remember that moment so vividly. We also can’t wait for a whole new generation to experience just how extraordinary he was as a creative force, performer and musical auteur.”
“An icon of his generation and beyond, George Michael was at the height of his creative and cultural power during the Faith tour, a defining moment that was made for the big screen,” said Bleecker Street CEO Kent Sanderson. “Through beautifully restored archival footage and intimate, never-before-heard interviews, audiences will be given a front-row seat to a beloved artist at the peak of his impact.”
“We are incredibly proud of George Michael: The Faith Tour and the extraordinary craftsmanship that has gone into bringing this footage to life,” said Ken Danquah, Chief Finance & Commercial Officer, Mercury Studios. “We’re excited to be partnering with such world-class distributors as Universal Pictures Content Group and Crosswalk, whose proven track record and expertise in delivering immersive cinematic events make them the perfect partners to bring this film to audiences around the world.”
“George was utterly unique, both as a man and an artist. Having had the great privilege of personally working closely with him and his team over the years, the opportunity to bring The Faith Tour to audiences through Globe Originals is an honor,” said Lucie Avery, General Manager, Globe Originals. “Mercury Studios, working hand-in-hand with George Michael Entertainment, brought their unrivalled expertise and vision to this project from the outset. The result is a film that truly honors his timeless legacy”
Alongside the theatrical release, George Michael Entertainment and Sony Music Entertainment will release “The Faith Tour”, an 18-track live album of previously unreleased recordings featuring hits from George Michael’s Wham! and solo catalogues.
Morahan is a commercial, film, and music video director who directed, and co-directed with Michael, many of his music videos, including “Faith”, “Father Figure”, “Careless Whisper”, “I Want Your Sex” and “Monkey”, as well as Wham!’s “Last Christmas”, “I’m Your Man”, and “Everything She Wants”. He has also directed music videos for Guns N’ Roses, Michael Jackson, Billy Joel, Mariah Carey, and Elton John. His film credits include Boogie Man, Goal III: Taking on the World, Murder in Mind, and Highlander III: The Sorcerer.
Austin is a songwriter, director, producer, and the lifelong best friend of Michael. He frequently collaborated with Michael, co-writing “Look at Your Hands” from “Faith” as well as “You Have Been Loved”, “John And Elvis Are Dead” and “December Song”. Following Michael’s passing, Austin has been heavily involved in preserving Michael’s legacy and works, including directing and co-producing George Michael Freedom Uncut, alongside Michael, as well as “George Michael at the Palais Garnier, Paris” and “I’d Know Him A Mile Off”.
McCartney is a world renowned photographer, film-maker and sustainable food pioneer who shot portraits of Michael over the course of his career. As a leading British creative, her work covers multiple disciplines, and her portrait and fine art photography has been exhibited internationally across London, New York, and France. In film, her feature documentary If These Walls Could Sing premiered at the Telluride Film Festival and received a Critics Choice Documentary Award nomination. She also executive produced and hosted three seasons of her Emmy-nominated plant-based cooking series “Mary McCartney Serves It Up!”.
Building on the success of Stray Kids: The dominATE Experience earlier this year, George Michael: The Faith Tour further reinforces Universal Pictures Content Group and Bleecker Street/Crosswalk’s track record of collaborating on delivering innovative and immersive cinematic experiences to audiences globally. Additional collaborations include Adam Shankman-directed, RuPaul-led action comedy Stop! That! Train!, the theater live capture of award-winning Hadestown: The Musical, which premiered at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival and will be released theatrically in North America on July 24, and by Universal in other English-speaking territories following, and the hotly anticipated upcoming documentary Musk from Academy Award-winner Alex Gibney.
ABOUT FAITH
Written, arranged, produced, and performed almost entirely by George Michael, FAITH marked the emergence of a new kind of pop icon, one who could blend soul, R&B, and rock into a sleek, emotionally charged, and deeply personal sound. Earning him a GRAMMY® Award for Album of the Year, three American Music Awards, and a record-breaking run of four U.S. No. 1 singles, including “Faith,” “Father Figure,”“One More Try,” and “Monkey,” making George the only British male solo artist ever to achieve four U.S. number-one singles from a single album on the Billboard Hot 100, a record that has yet to be matched. Selling more than 25 million copies worldwide, topping charts in over 10 countries and cementing George Michael as one of the best-selling solo artists of all time, Faith became a cultural touchstone of the late ’80s, inspiring countless artists and defining the MTV generation, soundtracking lives and influencing artists for decades to come.
ABOUT GEORGE MICHAEL
Singer, Songwriter, Producer, Philanthropist and Creative Icon, George Michael is considered one of the most influential recording artists of all time. He rose to fame in the 1980’s as a member of the duo Wham! selling over 30 million records. He later embarked on a solo career and sold over 125 million records worldwide and is one of the best-selling musicians of all time, topping the Billboard Hot 100 chart eight times in the US and hitting the No.1 spot on the UK singles charts seven times as a solo artist and redefining pop music in the process. He won six Ivor Novello Awards and remains the only individual songwriter ever to win their prestigious Songwriter of The Year Award three times. He won two Grammys, was nominated nine times, and won four American Music Awards as well as winning twelve Billboard awards and being nominated forty times. He also won three BRIT Awards. Both Billboard and Rolling Stone respectively rank him among the greatest artists and singers of all time, In 2004, George was named by the Radio Academy as the “Most Played Artist” on British radio over the previous 20 years, and in November 2023 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. During a career that spanned thirty-five years, he famously duetted with Aretha Franklin, Elton John, Mary J. Blige, Paul McCartney, Pavarotti, Queen, Tony Bennett and Whitney Houston amongst others, and his songs have been covered by Adele, Ariana Grande, Chris Martin, Christine and the Queens, Dua Lipa, H.E.R and Kae Tempest to name but a few. He is also considered one of the most significant cultural icons of his generation and was known as a leading creative force in music production, songwriting, vocal performance and visual and live presentation. His songs, many achieving Billions of Streams, remain a part of the fabric of our culture and include Careless Whisper, Wake Me Up Before You Go Go, Faith, Freedom 90’, Father Figure (recently interpolated by Taylor Swift into her song of the same name), Last Christmas, Fastlove, Club Tropicana, Jesus To A Child, Praying For Time and many more.
ABOUT UNIVERSAL PICTURES CONTENT GROUP:
A division of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group (UFEG), Universal Pictures Content Group produces, acquires, and distributes multi-genre entertainment on a worldwide basis. Over the past decade, our library of content has received 3 Academy Award® nominations, 4 BAFTA wins and 13 BAFTA nominations, and 7 Emmy Award wins and 5 nominations. Recent releases from Universal Pictures Content Group include EPiC – ELVIS PRESLEY IN CONCERT, directed by Oscar-nominated Baz Luhrmann, which has become the biggest feature-length documentary IMAX opening of all time, STRAY KIDS: THE DOMINATE EXPERIENCE – the first K-Pop movie EVER to reach #1 at global box office, the BAFTA-nominated MOONAGE DAYDREAM directed by Academy Award®-nominated Brett Morgen and the biggest documentary of 2022 and IRON MAIDEN: BURNING AMBITION, the hotly anticipated documentary which is a rare and intimate look at Iron Maiden’s uncompromising vision, featuring exclusive interviews with the band. Universal Pictures Content Group is part of NBCUniversal, one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies. NBCUniversal creates world-class content, which it distributes across our portfolio of film, television, and streaming and brings to life through their global theme park destinations, consumer products, and experiences.
ABOUT BLEECKER STREET AND CROSSWALK
Bleecker Street is an independent studio founded in 2014 by Andrew Karpen and is now led by CEO Kent Sanderson. Bleecker has released almost 100 films, all theatrically, and has established itself as a trusted label and champion of both commercial and filmmaker-driven cinema, curating an impressive and lauded slate that extends across all genres. Its releases have included films from auteurs like Mike Leigh (Hard Truths), Steven Soderbergh (Logan Lucky, Unsane) and Debra Granik (Leave No Trace); Oscar-nominated films including Captain Fantastic and Trumbo; and works to bring brilliant new voices in cinema like Academy Award®-winner Guy Nattiv (2024 Oscar-nominee Golda), Kitty Green (The Assistant), Fran Kranz (Spirit Award-winner for Mass), and Laurel Parmet (Spirit Award-nominee for The Starling Girl) to the big screen. In 2025, Bleecker launched a bespoke event cinema distribution division called Crosswalk, which aims to bring the most compelling in-person experiences and other events to movie theaters nationwide. In February 2026 Crosswalk released box office hit Stray Kids: The dominATE Experience — the epic concert film featuring the global K-pop sensation and their sold-out SoFi Stadium performances, along with behind-the-scenes footage. The film opened at #1 at the box office worldwide, and marked Bleecker’s second biggest opening weekend in its history. Crosswalk will next release the live theater capture of Tony Award®-winning hit musical Hadestown, titled Hadestown: The Musical, as shot in the West End last year. The film is set to be released theatrically in North America on July 24, 2026. Bleecker’s upcoming titles include Victorian Psycho, Zachary Wigon’s period thriller starring Maika Monroe and Jason Isaacs, which premiered in Un Certain Regard at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and is opening September 25; Academy Award-winning documentarian Alex Gibney’s Musk on October 16; Anton Corbijn’s thriller A Talent for Murder starring Helen Mirren as legendary writer Patricia Highsmith on October 23; legendary filmmaker Mike Leigh’s next film Tender Loving Care on Dec 4; Harmonia, the cult thriller directed by Academy Award®-winner Guy Nattiv and starring Carrie Coon, Bella Ramsey, Odessa Young, and Lily James on Jan 8, 2027 with an awards qualifying run in the fall; and When Darkness Loves Us, the Emilia Clarke-led horror film from director James Ashcroft, set for 2027.
ABOUT MERCURY STUDIOS
World Class Music Content. Working with a global network of creatives and artists, Mercury Studios develop, produce, distribute and invest in award-winning content. We are filmmakers in the world of music. Headquartered in London, with offices in LA and New York, current and recent projects include OZZY & BLACK SABBATH: BACK TO THE BEGINNING, directed by Benjamin Wainwright-Pearce for global livestream and theatrical, GEORGE MICHAEL: THE FAITH TOUR, directed by David Austin and Grammy Award-nominated Andy Morahan for IMAX, METALLICA SAVED MY LIFE, from three-time Grammy Award-winning director Jonas Åkerlund, ONE TO ONE: JOHN & YOKO, directed by Academy Award-winning Kevin Macdonald, Grammy-winning, Academy Award and BAFTA award-nominated AMERICAN SYMPHONY, directed by Matthew Heineman for the Obamas’ Higher Ground Productions/Netflix, REGGAETON: THE SOUND THAT CONQUERED THE WORLD, directed by Omar Acosta for NBC Peacock, and IF THESE WALLS COULD SING, directed by Mary McCartney for Disney+. Mercury Studios also produced and distributed performance capture films ANDREA BOCELLI 30TH: THE CELEBRATION, directed by Sam Wrench (Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour) for global Theatrical and TV and QUEEN ROCK MONTREAL for IMAX and Disney+. In 2025, Mercury Studios also hosted world premieres at the Tribeca Festival for METALLICA SAVED MY LIFE and JUST SING. Mercury Studios represents the world’s leading catalogue of music-related content, consisting of thousands of hours of premium music-driven film and television programming.
ABOUT GLOBE ORIGINALS
Globe Originals is an award-winning creative studio, creating iconic cultural moments through premium film and television projects for a global audience. It is part of Universal Music Group UK, the UK’s leading music-based entertainment company. Globe Originals has collaborated on a host of international film and TV productions. These include the Academy Award and BAFTA-winning feature film Amy, the IFTA-winning and BAFTA-nominated short Nostalgie, Steven Knight’s This Town for the BBC, and Mary McCartney’s If These Walls Could Sing for Disney+. It has also partnered with many of the world’s leading filmmakers including Quentin Tarantino, Shannon McIntosh, Richard Curtis, and Danny Boyle.
