Mendes plans biopics about every member of the Beatles

SAM MENDES is to direct four biopics of the Beatles, one about each member.

The “astonishing story of the greatest band in history” will be told from the separate perspectives of Sir Paul Mccartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Sir Ringo Starr.

The films will be released in 2027 in an “innovative and groundbreaking” way, according to Sony Pictures.

The company is withholding details of whether all four will be released on the same date, allowing fans to watch them back-to-back.

A Sony spokesman said the manner of release would be “something we haven’t seen before in terms of a theatrical experience for consumers”.

Mendes said: “I’m honoured to be telling the story of the greatest rock band of all time, and excited to challenge the notion of what constitutes a trip to the movies.”

The surviving Beatles and the families of Lennon and Harrison are backing the project, the first time that they have granted full rights to their life stories and Beatles’ music. Pippa Harris, Mendes’s producing partner, said: “We intend this to be a uniquely thrilling and epic cinematic experience: four films, told from four different perspectives, which tells a single story about the most celebrated band of all time.

“To have the Beatles’ and Apple Corp’s blessing to do this is an immense privilege.”

In the accompanying press release for the project, Tom Rothman, chairman and chief executive of Sony Pictures, said: “Theatrical movie events today must be culturally seismic – Sam’s daring, large-scale idea is that and then some.”

Mendes won the Best Director Oscar in 2000 for American Beauty and was nominated in 2020 for his First World War film 1917.

Ms Harris told the website Deadline that Paul Mccartney, Ringo Starr, Sean Lennon and Olivia Harrison “responded with such warmth and enthusiasm” for the idea when Mendes raised it with them.

‘Movie events must be culturally seismic. Sam’s daring, large-scale idea is that and then some...’