Let It Be: Sam Mendes’ THE BEATLES – A FOUR FILM CINEMATIC EVENT
Do we really need four films about The Beatles?
Look, as a huge fan of The Fab Four, I’d love to be enthused by Sam Mendes’ The Beatles – A Four-Film Cinematic Event – but something about it just doesn’t sit right with me. The official longline reads: Each man has his own story, but together they are legendary.
It could be that I’m all Beatles-d out (what’s left to tell after the many, many books, documentaries and films), or it could be that the casting feels a little bit cynical, considering that it features a quartet of acting ‘It Boys’ – Harris Dickinson, Barry Keoghan, Paul Mescal and Joseph Quinn. I like Keoghan, but the rest of those guys, hey who knows, I’m still on the fence?
It’s a ballsy move by Mendes to make four films – each one focusing on John Lennon (Harris Dickinson), Paul McCartney (Paul Mescal), George Harrison (Joseph Quinn) and Ringo Starr (Barry Keoghan) – and it’s even more ballsy to release them all at the same time as ‘A Four-Film Cinematic Event’.
Releasing in April 2028 (three years hence), it sounds like epic undertaking for sure, but I get the feeling that this will be more of a streaming event rather than a cinematic one. Is this officially sanctioned Apple Corps saga going to be cinema or TV?
These four Beatles films could be great – after all Sam Mendes is a good filmmaker and the Apple seal of approval means that The Beatles music will be featured (a major plus). But, I’m somewhat cynical about the whole endeavour. It might just be best to Let It Be. There’s money to be made though and this will bring in big bucks from music royalties alone, although box office success seems like a tough sell to me.
Maybe I’ll be wrong and these will not only be great, but also hugely successful. Check back in three years and find out when The Beatles – A Four-Film Cinematic Event finally hits screens.
