Zemeckis to do 3D Motion Capture remake of YELLOW SUBMARINE

by Eli Reyes

yellowsubmarineremake

Here's a story that would make for a damn good April Fools joke. It's so believable, yet so ridiculous at the same time! Venkman pulled something very similar to this, this year with his George Lucas wants to remake Return of The Jedi in CGI story. I say his story is similar, and not exactly like this because his was an April Fools joke.

This isn't...

We all know director Robert Zemeckis is now fully committed to making films using the performance-capture 3-D digital format he's employed for the last three films he's directed. First with his family adventure The Polar Express, then with the action fantasy Beowulf, and now his upcoming film starring Jim Carrey, a remake of the Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol.

Well, now Variety reports that Disney and Zemickis are negotiating to remake Yellow Submarine, the 1968 psychedelic animated film based on the music of The Beatles, using the same motion capture technology.

The storyline of the original took place in Pepperland, an undersea paradise protected by Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. When the band is captured by the music-hating Blue Meanies, a soldier is sent to Liverpool to fetch the Fab Four, who hop in the submarine and save the day.

The actual Beatles only appeared in the film’s closing scene. Actors provided the voices for the animated characters of Beatles Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

The key to the deal is Zemeckis’ ability to use The Beatles tunes that served as the keystone to the original. The studio has been quietly brokering a complicated rights deal that would give Zemeckis access to 16 original Beatles songs from the title song to “All Together Now,” “Baby You’re a Rich Man,” “All You Need Is Love,” “When I’m 64,” “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” and “Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.”

Disney hopes to have Yellow Submarine ready to premiere around the 2012 Summer Olympics, which begins July 27 in London.

The deal has been months in the making with armies of lawyers and sources said that rights will encompass the future prospects of a Broadway stage musical -- much as Disney accomplished with “The Lion King,” a Cirque du Soleil stage production (“Love,” a production based on Beatles tunes, has been running for two years at The Mirage) and merchandise.


Yellow Submarine is just the latest of pacts for The Beatles. Remastered recordings will be released with the highly anticipated “The Beatles: Rock Band” video game which comes out September 9th.

I love that Zemeckis is trying to push filmmaking into the future. I liked Beowulf, and what I've seen from Carol is insane. But he's stuck in this "remake rut!" He needs to take note from James Cameron, who is telling an original story with Avatar, but as we've seen in the Avatar Trailer... can still be groundbreaking technologically.

A great story is a great story. A tripped out 3D motion capture version of the Beatles running around Pepperland, is just a... ya know?

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