The auteur confirmed the news on 31 March at CinemaCon, showing up towards the end of the Sony Pictures presentation to reveal further details. The logline for all four projects reads: “Each man has his own story, but together they are legendary.” To that end, these will be four interconnected biopics, one from each band member’s point of view. The exact order in which the films will be released is not yet known, though all four will hit the big screen in April 2028, in what the director describes as the first “bingeable moment in cinema”. (Think of it as Barbenheimer times two.)
Doing the writing honours will be three veterans – Tony winner Jez Butterworth; recent Oscar recipient for Conclave, Peter Straughan; and Adolescence’s double Emmy winner Jack Thorne – but it’s unclear which film each is taking on.
Calling The Beatles “the most significant band of all time”, one which “redefined the culture and stayed with you for a lifetime”, Mendes added that he had “been trying to do a film for years, but I finally gave up” because he felt the “story was too big for one film” and a TV series didn’t seem quite right. “There had to be a way to tell the epic story for a new generation,” he continued. “I can assure you there is still plenty left to explore and I think we found a way to do that.”
Now, we have yet another update: per Deadline, the four boys will be joined by four-time Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan, as Linda McCartney, Paul’s first wife. We can safely assume that the pioneering photographer and musician, who married the Beatle in 1969, will feature prominently in the Paul-centric film, though it’s not yet known how much screen time she’ll have in the three other projects. Keep your eyes peeled for more news.
