Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition follows the Paul Di’Anno documentary into cinemas, opening with the joys of touring and seeing the fans, and pictures from the early days, when a gig was just £10 a ticket!
Plus, the band didn’t like being on album covers, so Eddie was created, after being inspired by the work of Derek Riggs.
There’s tons of archive footage in this, and when Bruce Dickinson joined after Paul Di’Anno was pushed out, this leads to a 1982 band interview clip on Tiswas with Sally James! And if that wasn’t enough, there’s even Nicko McBrain on The Sooty Show!
However, while there’ll be plenty of fan service in this, as it goes on and we see, for example, Bruce Dickinson leaving in 1993 because he wanted his solo music to take a different direction – even if that diversion didn’t exactly set the charts alight, but while there’s some good music in this, this documentary just doesn’t have the hook that Di’Anno: Iron Maiden’s Lost Singer had, and comes across as a quick jaunt through their timeframe without any depth.
And a lot of filler comes from fans enthusing about the band while sat at a desk, including Gene Simmons, Lars Ulrich, Javier Bardem, and some members of the public. This also makes for Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition being reasonably entertaining, but leaving you feel unfulfilled.
Visually, it’s mostly presented in 1.85:1, with some 2.39:1 animated Eddie clips – which does come across annoying on a 2.39:1 screen, meaning they end up windowboxed. A shame that cinemas no longer bother to bring the curtains in from the sides, when the film isn’t going to fill the screen.
Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition is in cinemas now, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 105 minutes
Release date: May 8th 2026
Studio: Universal Pictures UK
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1 (2.39:1, some scenes)
Rating: 6/10
Director: Malcolm Venville
Producer: Dom Freeman
Screenplay: David Teague
Music: H Scott Salinas
Cast: (as themselves)
Bruce Dickinson
Steve Harris
Nicko McBrain
Dave Murray
Adrian Smith
Janick Gers
Gene Simmons
Lars Ulrich
Dave Murray
Blaze Bayley
Paul Di’Anno (archive footage)
Steph Amann
Dave ‘Lights’ Beazley
Molly Capobianco
Gabriela Guadalupe Rojas Doula
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.