‘Let It Be‘: The Beatles’ 1970 documentary to be re-released on Disney+
It will be the first time the film has been available to watch for half a century.
The Beatles’ 1970 film Let It Be is set to be re-released on Disney+ next month, the first time it will be available to watch for half a century.
The film, directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, documented the band’s final album and breakup, and has been restored by Peter Jackson and the Park Road Post Production team.
It will come to the streaming service on May 8 and follow Jackson’s Get Back series on Disney+, which landed in 2021 and featured large portions of Lindsay-Hogg’s footage.
Lindsay-Hogg said of the news: “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.
“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. I was knocked out by what Peter was able to do with ‘Get Back,’using all the footage I’d shot 50 years previously.”
Peter Jackson added: “I’m absolutely thrilled that Michael’s movie, Let It Be, has been restored and is finally being re-released after being unavailable for decades.
“I was so lucky to have access to Michael’s outtakes for Get Back, and I’ve always thought that Let It Be is needed to complete the Get Back story. Over three parts, we showed Michael and The Beatles filming a groundbreaking new documentary, and Let It Be is that documentary – the movie they released in 1970. I now think of it all as one epic story, finally completed after five decades.
“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.”
Elsewhere, director Sam Mendes recently revealed plans to direct four new movies for Sony, one about each member of The Beatles.
Mendes’ new movies about each of the Fab Four will mark the first time that official music and life story rights have been given by Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, the families of George Harrison and John Lennon, and the band’s label Apple Corps, for a scripted film.
The films will see the life stories and routes to fame of each member explored from the members’ perspective, as well as documenting their high-profile post-Beatles careers and personal lives. They are set to be released in 2027.