Watch: The Beatles Eight Days a Week Film Trailer

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Photo of The Beatles courtesy of Apple Corps Ltd

Photo of The Beatles © Apple Corps Ltd

Update (June 25): We’ve added an interview with Ron Howard from The Today Show (see below).

The teaser trailer and release dates for the eagerly awaited documentary The Beatles: Eight Days A Week – The Touring Years from director Ron Howard have been revealed. The film, a production of Howard’s Imagine Entertainment, White Horse Pictures and Apple Corps Ltd., will be released in U.S. theaters on September 16.

As Best Classic Bands previously announced, Hulu has secured the exclusive U.S. streaming video on-demand rights to the Academy Award winner’s feature documentary based on the first part of The Beatles‘ career – 1962-1966 – in which they toured and Beatlemania captured the world’s attention. Hulu will have its streaming premiere on September 17.

Featuring rare and exclusive footage, the film is produced with the full cooperation of Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison. White Horse Pictures’ Grammy Award-winning Nigel Sinclair, Scott Pascucci and Academy Award®-winner and Emmy® Award-winner Brian Grazer of Imagine Entertainment are producing with Howard.

The Beatles: Eight Days A Week – The Touring Years is based on the first part of The Beatles’ career (1962-1966) – the period in which they toured and captured the world’s acclaim. Ron Howard’s film will explore how John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr came together to become this extraordinary phenomenon, “The Beatles.” It will explore their inner workings – how they made decisions, created their music and built their collective career together – all the while, exploring The Beatles’ extraordinary and unique musical gifts and their remarkable, complementary personalities. The film will focus on the time period from the early Beatles’ journey in the days of The Cavern Club in Liverpool to their last concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco in 1966.

Here’s the teaser trailer in which McCartney says “We were kids; we were all pretty scared”…

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Hulu’s exclusive US streaming video on-demand rights to the film on SVOD marks the first feature film to debut on Hulu following its theatrical premiere. The Beatles: Eight Days A Week – The Touring Years is the first film acquired by Hulu’s Documentary Films arm which will serve as a new home for premium original and exclusive documentary film titles coming to Hulu.

Following an all-star world premiere in London on September 15th, the film will roll out theatrically worldwide with release dates set in Japan (September 22nd), Australia and New Zealand (September 16th) and UK, France and Germany (September 15th).

The Beatles in Washington, DC (Photo courtesy Apple Corps Ltd)

The Beatles in Washington, DC (Photo © Apple Corps Ltd)

The Beatles:Eight Days A Week marks the first documentary feature to premiere exclusively on Hulu following its theatrical run. The film comes to Hulu in the company’s first-ever licensing deal with Apple Corps Ltd. The film will be the first to launch under the new Hulu Documentary Films arm, which will serve as a new home for premium original and exclusive documentary film titles coming to Hulu.

The project has been several years in the making, and it will share the Beatles’ journey from their early days in Liverpool and Hamburg to their 1966 final public concert in San Francisco, offering fans an all-access backstage pass complete with in-depth interviews and insights into the band members’ relationships, musical gifts and personalities.

Post-The Andy Griffith Show and Happy Days, Howard is probably best known for directing the films Cocoon, Apollo 13, The Da Vinci Code and A Beautiful Mind, which earned him an Academy Award for Best Director. His production company with partner Grazer – Imagine Entertainment (note John Lennon reference) – is said to be the largest independent production company in the film business.

In 2012, producers reached out directly to fans for home movie clips, photos and miscellaneous rare footage to use in the film. Concerts shown in the doc are also being fully restored by Giles Martin, who earned a Grammy for his work on the Beatles’ LOVE album (a soundtrack remix) with his father, Sir George Martin.