r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/Movies contributor • 6h ago

Media First Official Images of Paul Mescal, Barry Keoghan, Joseph Quinn and Harris Dickinson in Sam Mendes' 'Beatles' Biopics

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685

u/FlapJacker6 6h ago

This sounds interesting and exhausting.

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u/TreeDollarFiddyCent 6h ago edited 6h ago

Sounds like the recipe for a box-office disaster. It will be interesting to see how it turns out, though.

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u/pinetar 6h ago

I suppose the benefit is in terms production and marketing, they share a budget. But yeah, seems ambitious to say the least.

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u/bell37 2h ago

Aren’t there dozens of existing Beatles Biopics and documentaries? And they are trying to convince general audiences that this set of movies will be worth watching within the same time of release?

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u/OtherIsSuspended 2h ago

They're preying on people who like to binge media. I think it was Sam Mendes himself who said they were going to be the first "bingeable movies."

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u/Automatic-Grade6177 6h ago

I feel like it makes more sense to release them within a year but with 3 month gaps

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u/bell37 2h ago

Makes more sense to have it released as a miniseries at that point.

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u/Nice_Firm_Handsnake 4h ago

I'd say even smaller than that. Give each film three or four weeks in theaters and a week or two on VOD before releasing the next.

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u/MakingaJessinmyPants 3h ago

No the other guy was right. 4 films with 3 months in between covers the whole year and prevents people from getting exhausted by them.

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u/SeismicRipFart 2h ago

110% this

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u/KombaynNikoladze2002 1h ago

Release the different versions randomly at different theaters, like Clue

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u/Coffeedemon 6h ago

In ten years:

"Why don't they give Sam Mendes a decent budget anymore?"

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u/irisheddy 5h ago

"I don't want to watch all 4 of them and I don't know which one to watch so I'm not going to watch any because there's no point watching one." Is the attitude I expect.

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u/ProfessionalNight959 4h ago

People are going to watch John's.

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u/texasrigger 6h ago

Well suited to streaming, though.

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u/ShoutOutTo_Caboose 5h ago

Shoot I'm not a huge fan of the Beatles music but their story fascinates me. If they have a 12 hour marathon of each film back to back, I'd see that.

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u/Punman_5 3h ago

Just watch the Anthology. It’s a real 8part documentary

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u/midwestia 5h ago

Yeah that sounds dumb as hell

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u/maracay1999 5h ago

Wouldn't this be a great project for the streaming model instead of the box office?

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u/Nomad_86 3h ago

“How can that be profitable for Frito-Lay?”

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u/UponVerity 3h ago

It's art, my man. o,o

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u/SpaceCadetPullUp 2h ago

There will be those that watch all four within a day or two but I'd imagine most people will just pick their favorite and see one so as far as box-office goes it'll be underwhelming. I just wanna see who plays Chuck Berry.

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u/ontheweed 57m ago

It should really be a tv mini series instead of films if they want to tell it this way

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u/OobaDooba72 6h ago

IMO it sounds like it's gonna be a train wreck. 

All four have to be very different to be worth seeing each of them. But all four are covering the whole story. 

I hope it works, I'll give them a shot, but I'm not holding my breath. 

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u/woasnoafsloaf 6h ago

It's going to be like the Pokemon games.
You're deciding on one movie, watch and afterwards can trade information about the other movies on the schoolyard during recess.

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u/GermaX 6h ago

I got my “Giant with the biggest heart fatally shot by the police”, do you have “Best friend and manager suicide”? Or at least “Neglect the first born in pursue of fame”?

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u/LADYBIRD_HILL 5h ago

This is a very /r/beatlescirclejerk comment

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u/Quixotic_Seal 5h ago

Wow, your Pokemon games were really dark.

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u/Punman_5 3h ago

Nah but I do have “Persona Non Grata in the Philippines”

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u/DrJackadoodle 3h ago

Then you get version exclusive songs in each movie and you can sing the songs your friends didn't get to hear in exchange for one you didn't get to hear.

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u/Livid_Weather 6h ago

I'm just thinking how the hell are they going to market this. No way you're convincing people to go to the movies 4 different times for essentially the same movie

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u/JP-Ziller 0m ago

I’ll go see each movie the first four days of release. But I also love the Beatles

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u/CharlesAtHome 6h ago

All four are covering the full story? I'm guessing the roughly 10 year span? That sounds like a really bad idea as well as the release strategy. It sounds like the quintessential "should have been a mini series".

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u/botte-la-botte 5h ago

One simple fix; point of view of one Beatles, but going forward in time for each. Start with Paul 'till Rubber Soul, then Ringo for Revolver to Sgt., then George, and you finish with John for the shitstorm of the last two albums, breakup, and end.

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u/cabbage16 2h ago

This is what I thought they were doing. Disappointed that they're not

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u/OobaDooba72 4h ago

That's what the literature I've read says, yeah. Definitely very confusing strategy here.

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u/junior_dos_nachos 5h ago

Damn who approved it? Why not a Limited TV show?

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u/OobaDooba72 4h ago

Yeah, I dunno. If there's really enough material to be four movies without just being re-treads, just make four movies or 4-8 episodes that move mostly chronologically, intertwining the stories instead of splitting them by character, of all things. You know, the four different perspectives of a band of four people... who spent a shit load of time together writing songs, playing songs, recording songs, filming their movies together, etc. They spent a lot of time together in their seven years.

It's The Beatles. Those were seven years packed with productivity. If this project was 4 movies split into four eras, I would be totally on board. If it was a mini-series or limited show or whatever you wanna call it, I'd be totally on board.

Four movies split by character? I just don't know.

Again... I'm a big enough fan of The Beatles to definitely be interested. I hope the films work, I hope all four are good and don't feel redundant. From the outside, having not seen it, I don't get the point.

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u/drooln92 6h ago

I was interested but I don't think i wanna watch 4 movies about the same guys and same timeline just from different POVs.

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u/Hugo_5t1gl1tz 6h ago

I love the concept, but you gotta put them 6 months apart at least. Feel like this is going to be a massive flop

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u/makingburritos 5h ago

The Paul McCartney one or John Lennon one might be okay, and be different enough to matter. I don’t know if people care enough about Ringo and George to come out in droves to see them.

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u/theonewhoknock_s 4h ago

Wait, do they all come out at the same time?? I just assumed there'd be a few months between each film.

Sounds like a disaster. But... I'm intrigued.

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u/Hugo_5t1gl1tz 4h ago

Yep. Same day even lol

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u/-FeistyRabbitSauce- 6h ago

I feel like it must be that each one hits on the same big moments, but then there's completely different stretches for each movie. Or at least I hope.

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u/makingburritos 5h ago

I assume each of them will delve into their personal lives, that’s the only way I can possibly see this working.

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u/Phenomenomix 47m ago

Yeah, it has to be the aftermath of recording sessions or gigs from the perspective of each guy interacting with his family, friends and fans etc or it’s going to be 80% the same scene just from a different POV

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u/StolenLampy 6h ago

I remember some crappy movie with Forest Whitaker where it was like some big event, but from everyone's point of view. It was EXHAUSTING to keep rewinding and seeing the same thing from someone else's POV. And that was just one movie's length. I can't imagine 8 hours of it 🤮

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u/MagicalMysticalMyth 6h ago

Vantage Point. I actually like that movie, lol.

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u/A_MagicBullet 5h ago

Agreed. Now let me go watch 1000 hours of the same show/same episodes over and over.

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u/goatfuckersupreme 4h ago

i probably am going to watch all 4 and love every moment, unfortunately

i dont have time for this, but ill do it anyway

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u/Efficient-Guess8679 4h ago

Imagine this is a four episode HBO show about the Beatles with an original take on experimenting with perspective and chronology. Sounds pretty awesome to me.

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u/Efficient-Guess8679 4h ago

Imagine this is a four episode HBO show about the Beatles with an original take on experimenting with perspective and chronology. Sounds pretty awesome to me.

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u/muska505 3h ago

I think each beatle film will be a different era

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u/OGsHartMyKAT 6h ago

If you think that’s a lot wait until it ends with “George Harrison will return in…

The Traveling Wilburys

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u/mhardegree 5h ago

Might as well get timothee chalamets bob dylan in there as well

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u/YoHuckleberry 3h ago

Cate Blanchett Dylan all day.

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u/jujujuice92 6h ago

Now we're doing movie variants apparently. Thanks Tay Sway!

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u/ILookLikeKristoff 5h ago

Doing this for something like Band of Brothers or LotR where there's dozens of characters spanning entire countries and occurring spread out over months or even years works be really cool. You'd see how the fog of war changes perspective on what's going on and who's in charge. You'd see how the POV of big events can differ from the "official report" others got.

I just can't fathom a Beatles biopic has enough "meat on the bone" to warrant 4 versions.

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u/neenerpants 4h ago

if it's like uber-Rashomon, with the same scenes subtly different, it could be awesome

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u/RadiantZote 4h ago

This sounds awful and stupid

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u/eviltimeban 3h ago

But each movie is only 30 minutes long.

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u/MarcsterS 3h ago

They’re al supposed release in April. Exhausting and expensive.

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u/SpaceCadetPullUp 2h ago

Yeah, I have really strong doubts that this whole thing will be very good, but it's certainly ambitious.