Disney Sets Released Date For Peter Jackson's THE BEATLES: GET BACK Documentary
Disney has announced that they will release Peter Jackson’s Beatles documentary, The Beatles: Get Back, on September 4th. As a longtime fan of The Beatles, this is a doc that I’m super excited about.
The Beatles: Get Back features footage from the band’s studio sessions that “have never been seen or heard before as well as their final live performance on a rooftop in London.” Disney Chairman Bob Iger said the restored footage in the film is “spectacular” and “it looks like it was shot yesterday.”
The doc includes 55 hours of in-studio footage that was shot in early 1969 for the 1970 feature film Let It Be. That footage was restored by Park Road Post Production of Wellington, New Zealand, and is being edited by Jabez Olssen, who also collaborated with Jackson on 2018’s WWI doc, They Shall Not Grow Old.
Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison are in full support of the doc and there will be a fully restored version of the original Let It Be film released at a later time. Iger had this to say in a statement:
“No band has had the kind of impact on the world that The Beatles have had, and The Beatles: Get Back is a front-row seat to the inner workings of these genius creators at a seminal moment in music history, with spectacularly restored footage that looks like it was shot yesterday. I’m a huge fan myself, so I could not be happier that Disney is able to share Peter Jackson’s stunning documentary with global audiences in September.”
Jackson went on to say:
“Working on this project has been a joyous discovery. I’ve been privileged to be a fly on the wall while the greatest band of all time works, plays and creates masterpieces. I’m thrilled that Disney have stepped up as our distributor. There’s no one better to have our movie seen by the greatest number of people.”
Paul McCartney added:
“I am really happy that Peter has delved into our archives to make a film that shows the truth about The Beatles recording together. The friendship and love between us comes over and reminds me of what a crazily beautiful time we had.”
And Ringo Starr shared:
“I’m really looking forward to this film. Peter is great and it was so cool looking at all this footage. There was hours and hours of us just laughing and playing music, not at all like the version that came out. There was a lot of joy and I think Peter will show that. I think this version will be a lot more peace and loving, like we really were.”
The doc is being produced by Apple Corps Ltd and Jackson’s production company WingNut Films. It’ll be great to see this footage. I imagine any fans of The Beatles will be wowed by what Jackson and his team deliver.