The Beatles Movies: Everything to Know About Sony’s Fab Four Biopics
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While many musicians — from Queen to Johnny Cash — have gotten the biopic treatment, doing a movie about The Beatles was once believed to be a near impossibility. The life and music rights have long been considered far too expensive for any filmmaker to attempt a Beatles biography onscreen. But in 2028 the Beatles are getting not one but four feature films planned via Sony Pictures.
Sam Mendes (Skyfall, 1917) is directing the movies, each one focused on a different band member, that will star Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison, and Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr. Said Mendes of the ambitious project at Sony’s 2025 CinemaCon presentation, “We need big cinematic events to get people out of the house.”
Here is what we know so far about the Beatles movies.
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When Will the ‘Beatles’ Movies Be Released?
All four Beatles films are set for theatrical release in April 2028. “You have to match the boldness of the idea with a bold release strategy,” Sony Pictures CEO Tom Rothman told The Hollywood Reporter in 2024 about the films. “There hasn’t been an enterprise like this before, and you can’t think about it in traditional releasing terms.” He told Mendes the films would be “the first binge-able theatrical experience.”
It is unclear what the exact dates for release are and in what order the films will hit theaters.
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Who Is Playing Paul, John, George and Ringo?
Paul Mescal will play Paul McCartney. Mescal broke out in Hulu’s Sally Rooney series Normal People before going on to an Oscar-nominated role in the drama feature Aftersun and blockbuster Gladiator II. Harris Dickinson, a film festival favorite whose credits include the A24 movie Babygirl, will play John Lennon. Joseph Quinn has been cast as George Harrison after landing roles in the Netflix series Stranger Things and Marvel Cinematic Universe as The Fantastic Four character Johnny Storm. Oscar nominee Barry Keoghan, known for features like Saltburn and The Banshees of Inisherin, will play Ringo Starr.
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Will Beatles Songs Be in the Movies?
While Beatles music was featured in movies like Danny Boyle-directed Yesterday and the Julie Taymor musical Across the Universe, the group has never licensed their music for a scripted biopic. Because of the expense of the music rights for filmmakers, Beatles biopics like John Lennon movie Nowhere Boy never featured the group’s music. The Mendes movies have the signoff from the Beatles label Apple Corps, granting full life story and music rights for the scripted films. While it is unclear which songs will be featured in the films, the full catalog is available to the filmmakers.
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What Will the Four Movies Cover?
It is currently unclear how much of Beatles history — from their meteoric rise and prolific music-making to break up and solo careers — will be covered in the films. The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that Tony Award winner Jez Butterworth (Ford v Ferrari, Spectre), Oscar winner Peter Straughan (Conclave, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) and BAFTA and Tony Award winner Jack Thorne (Adolescence, Enola Holmes) have been hired to pen the screenplays. What is known is how the stories will be told: The films will be interconnected narratives, one from each band member’s point of view.
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Have the Surviving Beatles Given Their Stamp of Approval?
Image Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images “We all support the Sam Mendes movie project. Yes, indeed,” wrote Ringo Starr on social media at the time the films were first announced. Starr even commented on Keoghan being cast to play him, telling Entertainment Tonight, “I think he’s great, I believe he’s somewhere taking drum lessons. I hope not too many.” For his part, McCartney has yet to directly comment on the film or Mescal’s casting, himself. Sony is making the project in conjunction with Apple Corps — the company the four band members founded in 1968 — meaning the two surviving Beatles as well as the estates of Lennon and Harrison are on board.
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Who Else Has Been Cast?
While there will likely be many other Beatles players appearing onscreen alongside the Fab Four — from Yoko Ono to manager Brian Epstein — no one else has been cast in the movies yet.
A version of this story first published April 19 at 6 a.m.
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