So let’s get right to it: are you excited for the Beatles biopic, or are you pretending not to be? Because Sam Mendes just dropped a first look at his wildly ambitious Beatles project, and the internet has already entered its discourse era.
The Oscar-winning director has officially begun production on what can only be described as the most audacious Beatles undertaking since… well, maybe ever. Instead of a single sweeping biopic, Mendes is giving us four interconnected films, each told from the perspective of one member of the Fab Four. All four will be released theatrically in April 2028, because why do something small when you can do something completely unhinged?
This isn’t just a Beatles movie. It’s a Beatles event.
RELATED: Beatlemania Goes Queer: James Norton to Play Closeted Manager Brian Epstein
Four Lenses, One Legendary Band
The casting alone feels designed to spark group chats with Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison, and Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr.
Source: @sonyFirst revealed at CinemaCon, the lineup immediately sent fans spiraling—and honestly, fair. Mendes made it clear the aim isn’t repetition, but revelation: four different emotional entry points into the same shared story. Same moments, different meanings. Same songs, different scars.
Source: @sonyThink less “Greatest Hits montage,” more interior lives of men who accidentally changed culture forever.
Source: @sony
Source: @sonyLiverpool Said “Surprise!”
Sony’s marketing team also understood the assignment. Instead of a standard press drop, the studio staged a scavenger-hunt-style reveal in Liverpool, hiding four collectible postcards—each featuring a first-look image of one Beatle—around the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts (LIPA).
Students found them. Instagram erupted. The school later confirmed the stunt online, celebrating the full-circle hometown moment. High-resolution images were released publicly the next day, giving fans their first real look at Mendes’ vision.
It was clever, sentimental, and just a little bit smug—which, frankly, is very Beatles.
The Supporting Cast Is No Joke
As if the main quartet weren’t enough, the films also feature a stacked ensemble portraying figures central to Beatles history:
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Saoirse Ronan as Linda McCartney
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Anna Sawai as Yoko Ono
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Aimee Lou Wood as Pattie Boyd
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Mia McKenna-Bruce as Maureen Starkey
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Harry Lloyd as George Martin
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James Norton as Brian Epstein
It’s a lineup that suggests the films aren’t just about the band, but the ecosystem around them—the partners, muses, collaborators, and quiet architects who shaped the Beatles phenomenon.
A Release Strategy as Bold as the Band
Sony Pictures chairman Tom Rothman has already called the project unprecedented, noting that its scope requires a release strategy that breaks from traditional models. Translation: this thing is so big, they had to invent a new way to roll it out.
Even more telling? Apple Corps, famously protective of all things Beatles, gave Mendes rare approval. That alone signals the level of trust—and seriousness—behind the project.
You don’t get that kind of green light unless you’re promising something genuinely new.
Brian Epstein and the Queer Heart of Beatles History
For LGBTQ+ audiences, one of the most emotionally resonant threads may be the portrayal of Brian Epstein, played by James Norton.
Often referred to as “the Fifth Beatle,” Epstein discovered the band in Liverpool in 1961 and transformed them from rough-edged club performers into global icons. But while he was shaping pop history, Epstein was also navigating life as a gay man in a country where homosexuality was criminalized.
His sexuality was quietly known in some circles, but never publicly acknowledged—silence, in his case, was survival. That tension adds a poignant, deeply human layer to the Beatles story, reminding us that cultural revolutions are often built on personal sacrifice.
It’s a queer subtext that’s always been there, finally given room to breathe.
So… Are We Ready?
Four films. One band. A cast that feels both inspired and chaotic. A director swinging for the fences. Whether you’re a lifelong Beatles obsessive or someone who knows the hits via TikTok and rom-coms, this project feels designed to pull you in.
The question isn’t whether the Beatles biopic will be talked about—it absolutely will. The real question is whether you’re ready to see the Fab Four not as legends, but as people.
Messy, brilliant, complicated people.
Because if Sam Mendes gets this right, we won’t just be revisiting the Beatles.
We’ll be meeting them again—for the very first time.