Come Together ... at the Movies
With audiences craving event films, studios are taking bold bets on release plans
Seven decades after four lads from Liverpool formed a band, the Beatles remain a cultural juggernaut. But can the Fab Four rock the box office? Sony Pictures is counting on Beatlemania to drive audiences to theaters not once, but four times — for Sam Mendes’ quartet of biopics that will tell the group’s story from each member’s perspective.
It’s the first time that Paul Mccartney, Ringo Starr and the families of John Lennon and George Harrison have granted permission for scripted films based on their lives. But here’s what makes this project uniquely risky: All four films are planned for theatrical release in 2027.
If that sounds like a lot of moptop in a short period, there’s a logic behind the unconventional rollout. Hollywood has surmised that audiences want movies to feel less like generic screenings and more like cultural happenings. (“Barbenheimer,” an unexpected sensation, is pretty good evidence to that effect.) So studios are leaning into spectacle to fill seats.
“The industry is going through turbulence. Studios are asking: How do we cut through the clutter?” says Stephen Galloway, dean of Chapman University’s film school. “One way is to make a special event.”
But how ambitious is too ambitious when luring the masses to the multiplex?
Hollywood will soon find out. Warner Bros. is taking its own gamble by distributing Kevin Costner’s two-part Western “Horizon: An American Saga,” with “Chapter 1” unfolding in theaters on June 28 and “Chapter 2” on schedule for Aug. 16.
There’s also Universal’s two-part adaptation of “Wicked,” although its ambitions are cushioned by the year separating “Part 1” (Nov. 27) and “Part 2” (Nov. 26, 2025). Still, its rivals at Paramount learned the hard way with “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One” that splitting a blockbuster doesn’t always double the returns. (Hence the quiet renaming of the 2025 follow-up.)
Sony Pictures chairman Tom Rothman fears the struggling exhibition industry could face an existential crisis if studios aren’t willing to take an expensive roll of the dice.
“Does audacity carry risks? Of course,” Rothman says of the Beatles saga. “But if the movie business doesn’t start giving audiences new experiences, [it’ll] struggle to rebound. No guts, no glory.”
Those who cover the business agree that innovation helps the health of the industry — as long as the movies are, you know, good.
“The first rule is the content must deliver,” says Jason Squire, professor at USC School of Cinematic Arts. “Everything else is subordinate.”
Of course, these experiments could backfire. What happens to “Horizon: Chapter 2” if audiences don’t turn out in force for “Chapter 1”? Will moviegoers be daunted by eight hours of John, Paul, George and Ringo on the big screen?
These release plans have few comparisons, though analysts point to one example from nearly 20 years ago. Director Clint Eastwood unveiled companion films in 2006 — the Japanese-language “Letters From Iwo Jima” and “Flags of Our Fathers,” which recounted the same World War II battle from the American perspective. They were released two months apart, with the former earning $68 million on its $19 million budget and the latter generating $65.9 million on a $90 million budget.
“It didn’t quite work,” says Squire. “If they had lower costs, they’d be fine.”
For studios, the strategy comes with economic incentives. Shooting movies simultaneously is cheaper (and more efficient) because companies can hire a single film crew and won’t need to restart production for each new installment. Closely scheduled films may also be less expensive to promote. Ideally, they will stay in the cultural conversation, so marketing executives don’t need to reintroduce these projects after long gaps.
“With any big investments, they’re speculative and expensive,” says former studio chief Stacey Snider. “But the theatrical business needs to do something to reenergize its model, so the willingness to take a bigger risk is greater.”
The industry is going through turbulence. Studios are asking: How do we cut through the clutter? One way is to make a special event.” — Stephen Galloway, Chapman University film school