Sam Mendes is making four movies about The Beatles. At CinemaCon, Sony boss Tom Rothman jokingly asked, “Did I agree to that?” It’s an ambitious undertaking, and one that will no doubt be seen as a major risk.
Mendes told the CinemaCon audience that the plan is to release all four Beatles movies on the same day in April 2028. Is that a good idea? Rothman called it the "first binge-able theatrical experience." Most people will want to pay to see the John Lennon and Paul McCartney movies first, then George Harrison and finally Ringo Starr. That’s how it’ll predictably go down.
Not just that, Mendes added that it will take just under 12 months to complete principal photography on all four movies. Mendes is directing them all, and casting was also finally confirmed; Harris Dickinson (John Lennon), Paul Mescal (Paul McCartney), Barry Keoghan (Ringo Starr), and Joseph Quinn (George Harrison).
Sony releasing all four on the same date would certainly save them plenty on marketing costs. They want to turn these into theatrical movie events. We’ll see if it works out for them. Mendes is eyeing a mid-2025 shoot in the UK. Hopefully, Mendes’ regular DP Roger Deakins will be lensing these.
Mendes must surely be having sleepless nights over this ambitious project. He’s made things as complicated as possible, in every department, but especially in the way he wants these stories to be told.
Each of the four ‘Beatles’ movies will feature a different screenwriter, including Peter Straughan (“Conclave”) and Krysty Wilson Cairns (“1917”). Straughan compared the storytelling to “Rashomon,” pointing out that there would be “certain famous scenes from their lives,” but told from a different perspective.
Mendes is the filmmaker behind “American Beauty,” “Skyfall,” “Road to Perdition,” and “1917.” His last film was 2022’s “Empire of Light,” which was one of the weaker films of his career. He’s going to be spending the next four years of his life entirely consumed with these Beatles movies.