Director Sam Mendes has reportedly said that he wants to release his four films about The Beatles on the same day in 2027.
Skyfall and 1917 director Sam Mendes has set himself the formidable task of making four back-to-back films about The Beatles – and according to a new report, he’s come up with a similarly novel approach to their release.
As reported by journalist Jeff Sneider (via World of Reel), Mendes recently told students at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts that he plans to have all four movies appear in cinemas on the same day.
Aside from Clue, the 1985 comedy mystery that had a different ending depending on which cinema you saw it in, this writer can’t recall another instance of multiple films from the same director releasing on the same day. Perhaps one of you wonderful readers can point out another precedent.
At the moment, it’s unclear whether Mendes’ plan lines up with Sony’s own release strategy – the only official line is that the four films are scheduled for release at some point in 2027, with production said to begin in mid-2025.
Each of Mendes’ four films will focus on a member of Britain’s most famous beat combo, with the rumour being that it’ll cover their 1970 break-up from each musician’s perspective. The cast hasn’t been confirmed yet, though Sneider, who evidently has a mole in Mendes’ operation somewhere, has previously said that Harris Dickinson will play John Lennon, Paul Mescal will strum a bass as Paul McCartney, Charlie Rowe’s guitar will gently weep as George Harrison, while Barry Keoghan is on drums as Ringo Starr.
That Mendes fancies the idea of releasing all four films at once adds weight to theory that they all deal with the same incident viewed from a different angle, Rashomon style. It’ll be fascinating to see how he goes about it.
