Every couple of years, Beatles fans receive a wonderful gift. Gone are the days of searching for bootlegs. It all began with the great Beatles Anthology Series in the 1990s. Technology has been good to Beatles fans. Old tapes have been dusted off and meticulously brought back to life to share unreleased songs, outtakes and in studio audio banter. It’s been wonderful collecting the new remastered original albums, books and even the rematerested original films on Blu-Ray. The recent announcement that a new Beatles film will be released based on 55 hours of never before seen footage is the ultimate Beatles news.
The new Beatles movie just announced will be directed by Peter Jackson who is best known for his work as director of the Lord Of The Rings motion picture series. The Let It Be concept film will be based on 140 hours of audio and the 55 hours of unseen footage. It is not a deluxe edition of the original Let It Be documentary, but rather a brand new film aimed at dispelling the myth that the 1969 sessions were filled with tension and arguments. Peter Jackson has been working with Paul McCartney, Yoko Ono, Olivia Harrison and the Beatles Apple Corps Ltd to release the new Let It Be film to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the release of the Let It Be album and film.
Plans are to release a remastered version of the original Let It Be film with the new yet untitled film. The original Let It Be
film has been out of print for years and had only been released on VHS tape and laserdisc. The original Let It Be
film has never been released on DVD or Blu Ray. The original Let It Be documentary was originally filmed as a made for television documentary but was released as a feature film instead. It was filmed utilizing 16mm film which at the time was acceptable for broadcast standards and theatrical documentary releases.
The original Let It Be film was originally remastered in 2000 for a planned DVD release, but was terminated. Supposably, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr were unhappy how The Beatles were portrayed in the original film. The two stated that the film unfairly defined The Beatles at that time awash with conflict. Even though there has been documented example of issues they had especially with George Harrison at the time, according to Peter Jackson, the 55 hours of unseen footage portrays a group working hard and getting along well.
Peter Jackson is well known for his work as the director of the Lord of the Rings motion picture series. However, Peter jackson has many more directing credits in his name including The Frighteners in 1996 that starred Michael J Fox, the 2005 version of King Kong
, The Lovely Bones in 2009, The Hobbit Series and many more other motion picture films and documentaries.
The title for the film has yet to be announced. Regardless of title, the announcement that so much unseen footage and audio that has never been released is on its way to cinemas in 2020 is wonderful news for Beatles fans worldwide.