The Beatles announce full details of new collaboration with Disney+
Following their successful joint venture in 2021 with the expansive Get Back series, Disney+ is set to release a restored version of The Beatles‘ 1970 documentary, Let It Be.
Director Peter Jackson created Get Back by using unused footage from Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s Let It Be film, and now the original documentary will once again be available to watch. Despite capturing a pivotal moment in Beatles history, Let It Be has largely been out of circulation since release, but on May 8th, it’ll be available to watch on Disney+.
Jackson has played a hand in the new version of Let It Be, as it is his company Park Road Post Production that have restored the footage and used the same technology that made Get Back become a reality.
While Lindsay-Hogg didn’t play a part in restoring the footage, he has fledged his unwavering support behind the project. In a statement, the director shared: “Let It Be was ready to go in October/November 1969, but it didn’t come out until April 1970. One month before its release, The Beatles officially broke up. And so the people went to see Let It Be with sadness in their hearts, thinking, ‘I’ll never see The Beatles together again. I will never have that joy again,’ and it very much darkened the perception of the film.”
The filmmaker continued: “But, in fact, how often do you get to see artists of this stature working together to make what they hear in their heads into songs. And then you get to the roof and you see their excitement, camaraderie and sheer joy in playing together again as a group and know, as we do now, that it was the final time, and we view it with full understanding of who they were and still are and a little poignancy.”
Lindsay-Hogg concluded his message by praising Jackson, stating, “I was knocked out by what Peter was able to do with Get Back, using all the footage I’d shot 50 years previously.”
Meanwhile, in his own statement, Jackson thanked Lindsay-Hogg for making Let It Be, and explained how he views it as the final piece of the Get Back jigsaw which combine to great “one epic story”.
Jackson passionately stated: “The two projects support and enhance each other: Let It Be is the climax of Get Back, while Get Back provides a vital missing context for Let It Be. Michael Lindsay-Hogg was unfailingly helpful and gracious while I made Get Back, and it’s only right that his original movie has the last word… looking and sounding far better than it did in 1970.”
While the restorative version of Let It Be is the documentary on The Beatles to hit screens, the Fab Four’s legacy is also set to be celebrated in four biopics, set for release in 2027. Each movie will focus on a different member of the band.
The project, set to be directed by Sam Mendes, marks the first time The Beatles and Apple Corps have granted permission for the full life story of their members and music rights to be used within a scripted film.
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