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by Mick the Ram
The Beatles are widely considered the greatest British band of all time and now there are to be four separate films made about each member.
Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and the families of John Lennon and George Harrison have all granted permission and music rights for the biopics to be created and spotlighting them from their own perspective.
Sir Sam Mendes will oversee each of the films and the Oscar-winning British director said he was “honoured to be telling the story of the greatest rock band of all time”.
The films, made by Sony Pictures and Sir Sam’s Neal Street Productions, is going to be released in cinemas in 2027, although it is not clear at present whether the four films will be staggered in their rollout, or be brought out all at the same time.
The Fab four are of course no strangers to the silver screen, starring in several of their own films back in the 1960’s and inspiring countless feature-length tributes to them over the years.
Unique stories to be told
This exciting project marks the first time that The Beatles and their company Apple Corps have granted full life story and music rights for a scripted film. They have long been reluctant to grant rights, although it is highly likely that the deal struck with Sony Pictures may very well outstrip all music biopics that have ever come before it.
In their own statement, Apple Corps said the four new films would “explore each band member’s unique story and to bring them together in a suitably captivating and innovative way”.
British film and television executive producer, Dame Pippa Harris said: “We intend this to be a uniquely thrilling, and epic cinematic experience. To have The Beatles’ and Apple Corps’ blessing to do this is an immense privilege.”
Perfect fit
These four films, formulated by Sir Sam, are expected to roll out theatrically in an innovative fashion. It has been suggested that they could potentially co-exist, or intersect in theatres.
The celebrated director, who was responsible for huge hits such as: American Beauty, Revolutionary Road, Empire of Light, 1917, and two James Bond movies – Skyfall and Spectre, is seen as the perfect fit to make this project a massive success.
Tom Rothman, chair and chief executive of Sony Pictures’ Motion Picture Group, summed it up by saying: “The combination of Sam Mendes’ team with the music and the stories of four young men who changed the world, will rock audiences all over the globe.”
He added: “We are deeply grateful to all parties and look forward ourselves to breaking some rules with Sam’s uniquely artistic vision.”
Good but not quite on the mark
It will be interesting to see which order they are made in, or indeed if there is an order, but each will undoubtedly have a really fascinating story to be told.
There have been several Beatles biopics previously released, some pretty good, others no so good. Backbeat from 1994 was very well received and the 1979 Birth of the Beatles always seemed to have an air of credibility. Christopher Eccleston put in a strong performance in the 2010 Lennon Naked, and there were others like The Rutles: All You Need is Cash, Nowhere Boy and The Hours and the Times that impressed, without quite hitting the spot.
Best of the lot?
In the past few years music biopics have become very big business. Bohemian Rhapsody, Elvis and Rocketman were all massive at the box office, sparking a search by the hungry execs for the next blockbuster.
Bob Marley and Michael Jackson are the next off the production line, but the feeling is that these four will beat all comers.
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