With 50th anniversary expanded editions of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in 2017, 2018’s THE BEATLES (aka the White Album), and 2019’s Abbey Road, Beatles fans have now come to expect similar treatment of the rest of the group’s catalog, via producer Giles Martin. So what’s coming in 2020?
Well, as the saying goes, “It depends when you ask.” We learned on Jan. 30, 2019, that director Peter Jackson is working on a new film, The Beatles: Get Back, based on 55 hours of never-released footage from 1969.
More details of the film were shared on March 10, 2020, including a release date: it was scheduled to arrive on Sept. 4 via Walt Disney Studios which has acquired the film’s worldwide distribution rights. However, on June 12, the studio announced that the film was being pushed back a year to Aug. 27, 2021, due to the ongoing pandemic, which has thrown all film studios’ plans out the window.
The earlier March 10 announcement notes, “the film will showcase the warmth, camaraderie and humor of the making of the legendary band’s studio album, Let It Be, and the entire 42-minute performance of their final live concert as a group, the iconic rooftop set on London’s Savile Row.” The Beatles: Get Back will be released in the U.S. and Canada on September 4, 2020, with additional details and dates for the film’s global release to follow. The announcement was made by Robert A. Iger, Executive Chairman, The Walt Disney Company, at Disney’s annual meeting of shareholders.
2020 marks the 50th anniversary of the original Let It Be album, which was released on May 8, 1970.
On the actual anniversary, the Beatles offered a snippet of its iconic title track but the day came and went without news of a deluxe edition.
Related: The #1 albums of 1970
Sir Peter Jackson (Photo: Travis Graalman; used with permission)
In the initial Jan. 2019 announcement, Jackson said, “The 55 hours of never-before-seen footage, and 140 hours of audio made available to us, ensures this movie will be the ultimate ‘fly on the wall’ experience that Beatles fans have long dreamt about–it’s like a time machine transports us back to 1969, and we get to sit in the studio watching these four friends make great music together.”
“The original movie came out, and it was really sort of about the break-up of the Beatles. And so for me, it was a little sad, the movie,” McCartney told DJ Yannick Tremblay of Canada’s Radio X.
The original Let it Be film, directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, which also includes footage of the Beatles’ famous final live performance, on the rooftop of the Apple headquarters in London, has been unavailable since the 1980s.
1970’s original Let It Be album included a dozen tracks recorded during various sessions across a two-year period, including “The Long and Winding Road,” “Across the Universe,” “Two of Us” and “I Me Mine.”
This ad for “Get Back” appeared in the April 26, 1969 issue of Record World
More than a year before its release, Apple issued “Get Back” as a single in April 1969, and it became a worldwide #1 smash. The song was included on Let It Be as the final track on Side Two.
While an expanded edition of the album does not show up yet as an official 2020 release, Beatles detectives have discovered one title that appears to be related.
Though there’s scant detail, a hardcover book simply titled Get Back: The Beatles is listed on Amazon from Callaway Arts & Entertainment. There is no artwork or description. The only information offered is its weight: 1.7 lbs. It’s available for pre-order in the U.S. here and the U.K. here. However, with the Jackson film now pushed back to 2021, the book is also being delayed.
Stay tuned!
4 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationAccording to https://beatlesmagazineuk.com/get-back-the-beatles-coming-this-fall/, it looks like it will be the 164 page book that was in the box of the 1st pressing of Let It Be in UK and Canada, among others…
Still have the book from let it be, came with the vinyl album, in great condition, have to admit, only looked at it once, will have to get it out and look at it again, after 50 years of being closed up!!
The Glyn Johns mix of the Get Back album has been on YouTube for ages. Dump your copy of Let It Be Naked and listen to the album as it should have been issued. It’s better than the 2 Let It Be releases and should have been released in the first place.
I respectfully disagree. I like Let it Be the way it was released. Get Back was no where near as good.