Sam Mendes Sets Beatles Biopic Movie Series at Sony
Sam Mendes has teamed with Sony Pictures Entertainment for The Beatles, four theatrical films about the British supergroup, each from the perspective of a different band member.
The project, coming more than 50 years after The Beatles broke up and 40 years after the death of John Lennon, will see Apple Corps (the company founded by the band members) and The Beatles — Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and the families of Lennon and George Harrison — offer up each of the Fab Four’s full life stories and music rights for a scripted film. Mendes will direct the four theatrical feature films to recapture the story of the greatest band in history.
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Music films have proven to be resilient at the box office. Paramount’s Bob Marley: One Love over-performed last week, while Taylor Swift’s $15 million concert film The Eras Tour outgrossed a number of Hollywood tentpoles, with $261 million globally last year. A number of other music films are in the works, with Antoine Fuqua currently filming the Michael Jackson biopic Michael for Lionsgate.
Sony will finance and distribute the movie series worldwide in theaters in 2027. The schedule for the rollout of the films has yet to be announced.
Mendes will also produce the movies about the generation-defining band via his Neal Street Productions partner Pippa Harris and Neal Street’s Julie Pastor. Jeff Jones will executive produce for Apple Corps Ltd.
“I’m honored to be telling the story of the greatest rock band of all time, and excited to challenge the notion of what constitutes a trip to the movies,” Mendes said in a statement.
“I know I speak for our CEO Tony Vinciquerra, who was instrumental in making this happen, and every Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group colleague around the world when I say: ‘yeah, yeah, yeah!’” Tom Rothman, chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures’ Motion Picture Group, added in his own statement.
Rothman, in a note to Sony employees Tuesday that was obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, added: “Many companies were hoping for the chance to partner on this once-in-a-lifetime cinematic experience. I am honored that in Columbia Pictures’ 100th year, and with Tony’s enthusiastic support, we won the day and are the chosen home.”
The Beatles project has been long in development at Sony, with Rothman and Elizabeth Gabler helping spearhead the project. The goal is telling the story of the legendary rock band as a whole leading up to their long-brewing 1970 breakup but from the view of each band member.
And the series will be done with the full cooperation of The Beatles and Apple Corp. “We intend this to be a uniquely thrilling and epic cinematic experience: four films, told from four different perspectives which tell a single story about the most celebrated band of all time,” said Harris in a statement.
The Beatles have been chronicled in the past with other movies, including Peter Jackson’s three-part documentary, The Beatles: Get Back, which captured an intensely productive month for the band, culminating in the legendary Jan. 30, 1969, public performance that would be the band’s last.
And Ron Howard captured the chaos of The Beatles concerts from 1963 to 1966, at the height of Beatlemania and which ultimately burned out the band members, with Hulu’s The Beatles: Eight Days a Week — The Touring Years.
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