Peter Jackson’s documentary The Beatles: Get Back has a release date. Already renowned for his work on epic films like the Lord of the Rings trilogy and its follow-up Hobbit trilogy, Jackson moved over into the world of historical documentary filmmaking with his acclaimed WWI film They Shall Not Grow Old, which employed state-of-the-art technology to restore, colorize and render into 3D scratchy old footage of soldiers from The Great War.
The effect of They Shall Not Grow Old was to bring WWI to life on-screen like never before, and now Jackson will try to pull off the same trick with the most influential pop band of all-time. And Beatles fans now know when they can see Jackson’s planned documentary The Beatles: Get Back as the film has received a release date of September 4th, 2020 after being picked up by Walt Disney Studios for worldwide distribution.
The footage used for Get Back was filmed during recording sessions for the Beatles’ final album “Let It Be” and during their famous rooftop concert on London’s Savile Row. Some of the same footage already made its way into Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s Let It Be movie, which was released in May 1970, shortly after the band had broken up. But of course, Jackson and his team have gathered even more footage and gone to work painstakingly restoring it in hopes of creating an even more vivid experience for fans.
A synopsis for the movie reads: “The new documentary brings to light much more of the band’s intimate recording sessions for “Let It Be” and their entire 42-minute performance on the rooftop of Apple’s Savile Row London office. While there is no shortage of material of The Beatles’ extensive touring earlier in their careers, The Beatles: Get Back features the only notable footage of the band at work in the studio, capturing John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr as they create their now-classic songs from scratch, laughing, bantering and playing to the camera.”
