Brace yourself for not one, two or three but four new Beatles biopics that are slated to come out in 2027. There’s going to be one movie for each of the Fab Four -- that’s John, Paul, George and Ringo -- all directed by Sam Mendes who’s best known American Beauty, 1917, Skyfall and Jarhead.
Now, this is the first time The Beatles have given any movie project full life and music rights, so expectations are going to be high. But it’s also not entirely shocking that this is happening now: Music biopics are something of a trending thing.
Movies about Queen and Elvis all saw box office success a few years ago. And just last week, a biopic about reggae pioneer and activist Bob Marley saw strong early success.
But on USC’s campus, students didn’t seem especially stoked. Most seemed to at least know about The Beatles but struggled to recall much else.
Valeria Gomez: I don’t know their names.
Chien: Could you name one Beatles song for me?
Gomez: Uh. “Imagine?” No, that’s John Lennon. Sorry. I don’t know, I’m blanking.
Antonia Mintcheva: Oh no. Um, no. I can’t. Pass, pass. Wow, this is not good.
Nathan Viennett: “Lemon Tree” is one, right?
“Lemon Tree” is not. That was sophomore Valeria Gomez, senior Antonina Mintcheva and freshman Nathan Viennett. But, thankfully, not everybody was totally in the dark. Other students knew who The Beatles were, so I asked them which biopic they’d watch if they could only watch one.
Laz Pacheco: I’d probably do Paul.
Chien: Because he’s the most famous?
Pacheco: Yeah, I think so. Just the one I recognize the most.
Keaton Orava: Probably Paul McCartney.
Chien: No love for Ringo or George?
Orava: I mean, there’s some love but not two hours each of love.
That was third-year law student Laz Pacheco and freshman Keaton Orava. For the record, if I had to choose, I’d watch Ringo’s. Because he’s special and different. Like me.
For Annenberg Media, I’m Tomoki Chien.