Hollywood loves biopics. After Bob Marley, Elvis, Rocketman or Bohemian Rhapsody, it is the turn of the Beatles to see their legend spread on the big screen. Samuel Mendes, the director of American Beauty, a pair of James Bond films – Specter and Skyfall –, and the war film 1917, will direct not one but four films dedicated to each of the Fab Four, John, Paul, George and Ringo, Sony Pictures announced on Monday (February 19). Each film will embrace the point of view of one of the four trendy boys.
“We aim to offer a unique, thrilling and epic cinematic experience: four films, told from four different points of view, which tell a single story about the most famous group of all time”, rejoiced the producer Pippa Harris. “I’m honored to tell the story of the greatest rock band of all time,” added filmmaker Sam Mendes in a statement.
Long fussy about the exploitation of their image and their music, the Beatles – Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, the rights holders of John Lennon and George Harrison – granted all of their rights to Sony for the production of these projects centered on their lives and their music.
Release dates will be announced later, but Sony says it is aiming for 2027. The films, all designed by Sam Mendes, could potentially coexist or cross paths in theaters.
The Beatles are not entirely new to cinema. Between 1964 and 1970, they appeared in five films, including “Four Boys in the Wind” (1964) and the cartoon “Yellow Submarine” (1968). They have also been the subject of numerous documentaries, including the most recent, Peter Jackson’s 2021 “The Beatles: Get Back.” A 1979 biopic, made during John Lennon’s lifetime, entitled “The Birth of the Beatles “, credited Pete Best, the Beatles’ first drummer, as an advisor.