LAS VEGAS – A revolutionary take on The Beatles has taken center stage.
At Monday night’s CinemaCon, the premier gathering for theater owners and film studios, Sony Pictures finally lifted the veil on its audacious four-film saga honoring the legendary band. Director Sam Mendes, who considers them “the most significant band of all time,” introduced the entire cast in a dramatic, Avengers-style fashion. Stepping into the iconic roles: Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison, Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr, and Harris Dickinson as John Lennon.
“The Beatles transformed my entire perspective on music—they’re the backdrop to some of my earliest recollections,” Mendes revealed. He confirmed that the four films, which will take over a year to produce, are set for an April 2028 release, calling it “a groundbreaking theatrical binge experience.”
The filmmaker revealed that the quadrilogy will be told through the perspectives of “four different human beings,” with characters and events interweaving across the films. Watching all four movies together will unveil the story in an intricately interconnected and uniquely immersive way.
The Beatles biopic project was first revealed in February of last year, with Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and the families of John Lennon and George Harrison giving their official approval through the band’s company, Apple Corps Ltd. (It’s worth noting that Sony Music Publishing owns the rights to most of The Beatles’ catalog.)
Credit: MSN
The band’s cinematic history stretches back to the 1960s, with five films under their belt between 1964 and 1970, including A Hard Day’s Night and the animated Yellow Submarine. The idea of a Beatles biopic isn’t new, though, with films like the 1994 indie Backbeat—which focused on Lennon’s bond with Stuart Sutcliffe before the band’s breakthrough—and 2009’s Nowhere Boy, where Aaron Taylor-Johnson portrayed a young John Lennon. Additionally, numerous documentaries have chronicled the Beatles’ journey, such as Peter Jackson’s 2021 series The Beatles: Get Back and last year’s Beatles ’64.
Mendes recognized that while a lot of the Beatles’ narrative has been told, “I can assure you, there’s still an abundance left to discover. The music will be extraordinary, and I promise it’ll be a journey worth taking.”