Sam Mendes’ Beatles Movies: What We Know So Far

It’s been more than 60 years since The Beatles invaded America with their February 1964 appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. It’s safe to say that their legacy has never waned, and they remain almost as relevant today as they were for the rest of the 1960s. However, there has never been an officially approved biopic of the iconic rock band, until now. Director Sam Mendes announced in February 2024 that he was taking on a bold challenge. He would not make one film about The Beatles; he would be making four.

One movie for each member of the band: Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. The films will be shot simultaneously and cover the same period in the band, from their early days in Liverpool until their breakup in 1970. Each film would be seen from the point of view of each Beatle. Over the last year or so, we’ve gotten some more information about the movies, so here’s what we know thus far.

What Is The Release Date?

Understandably, the project is going to take some time. In March of 2025, Variety reported the news that all four movies will hit theaters in April of 2028. That certainly feels like a long way off, but the project, now officially titled The Beatles – A Four-Film Cinematic Event, is a huge undertaking, so it’s hardly a surprise that it will take a while to complete. It was unclear from the announcement, which it called “the first binge-able theatrical experience,” if the movies would all be released on the same day, or if they would be spread out, but it sounds like they will at least all be released within the same month, at least.

Who Are Playing The Beatles?

In the same announcement revealing the release date, it was also confirmed who would be playing each member of the band. Barry Keoghan is set to play drummer Ringo Starr, Gladiator II star Paul Mescal will play Paul McCartney, John Lennon will be portrayed by Harris Dickinson, and George Harrison will be played by Joseph Quinn, who crushed it most recently as Johnny Storm in Fantastic Four: First Steps.

We’ve also now got news from Deadline that Linda McCartney, née Eastman, who married Paul in 1969, is set to be played by Saoirse Ronan. Beyond that, there hasn’t been any information on who other people in the Beatles orbit will appear as characters in the movies, or who might play luminaries like John’s first wife, Cynthia, or his second wife, Yoko Ono. It’s also a good bet that Ringo’s first wife, Maureen, will likely be portrayed, as well as George’s first wife, Patti Boyd (who later married Eric Clapton).

We've also learned from Deadline that The Beatles' legendary manager Brian Epstein, who died in 1967 at the height of Beatlemania, will be portrayed by James Norton. Norton, who recently starred in House of Guinness, one of the best shows on Netflix this year, hasn't been confirmed by Sony, however.

Other names that I would expect to play big roles in the movies are legendary producer George Martin and road manager/band assistant Mal Evans, who died in 1976. Who knows, maybe we’ll get some musicians that they collaborated with, like Billy Preston, who can be seen with a Disney+ subscription in the amazing docuseries The Beatles: Get Back from director Peter Jackson.

There Will Be 4 Movies, One For Each Beatle

Rather than cover The Beatles across one biopic, this project is dedicating four feature films to these musical icons. As an added twist, each movie will focus on a different band member’s point of view, with all of the stories being “interconnected.” So although we’ll see Paul, John, George, and Ringo in all of these movies, each one will see one of the men taking center stage while the others occupy supporting positions. As such, it’s reasonable to assume that, along with certain events being re-explored in each of these movies from different perspectives, there will also be opportunities to go down narrative paths that only involve the central Beatle, depending on the movie.

The Story Will End With Their 1970 Breakup

Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr continued to produce music for their solo careers well after the Beatles dissolved, but it sounds like that won’t be explored in any of these upcoming movies. Per an official press release (via Variety), the Beatles' movies will wrap up with their breakup in 1970. It’s possible that in the midst of each Beatles’ narrative being covered, there will be post-1970 flash forwards to show where these men ended up in life, but since these movies are specifically centered around the band when they were together, it’s doubtful a lot of screen time will be dedicated to what happened afterwards.

Sam Mendes Is Directing All Four Movies

With a resume that includes American Beauty, Road to Perdition, Skyfall, Spectre, and 1917, it’s safe to say that Sam Mendes remains one of Hollywood’s most talented directors. Still, the prospect of directing four movies like this back-to-back-to-back-to-back would surely be daunting for any filmmaker. And yet, Mendes has taken it upon himself to helm and produce all four of them, though that’s not surprising since, per the Deadline story, he “conceived this grand vision.”

There Will Be Three Screenwriters

In May 2025, we found out that the four films would be written by three screenwriters. It’s a group of heavyweights, too. Per Variety, Tony Award-winner Jez Butterworth, who worked with Mendes on the James Bond film Spectre, will work alongside Peter Straughan, who just won an Oscar for his script for Conclave, and Jack Thorne, who took home an Emmy for his amazing work on Adolescence, which you can check out with a Netflix subscription.

These Are The First Official Biopics About The Beatles Ever Made

The Beatles are no strangers to cinema. Not only did Paul, John, Ringo and George lead the movies A Hard Day’s Night, Help!, Magical Mystery Tour and Yellow Submarine, they’ve also been the subject of several documentaries, and their music has been prominently featured in movies like Across the Universe and Yesterday (with the latter being possible thanks to a deal between Working Title Films and Apple and Sony). They even once tried to get their own Lord of the Rings adaptation off the ground.

However, Sam Mendes’ Beatles movies are the first time that scripted cinematic stories about these men have been approved by Paul and Ringo, as well as the estates of John and George. All four band members’ full life stories and music rights have been granted by those individuals and Apple Corps Ltd., the corporation that manages The Beatles’ music and various other media ventures.

There have been plenty of unauthorized versions of The Beatles on screen, with varying success, but none of those had the full backing of the band members and their families, as these do. That means we’ll get lots of The Beatles’ music in the films, which is great, but it is fair to worry if the films will be too sanitized and leave out some of the more controversial moments of the band’s career, like the death of early band member Stu Sutcliffe, for example.

Given the success of music biopics from recent years like Bohemian Rhapsody, Elvis, and the upcoming Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere, making a movie about The Beatles seems like it would be a no-brainer, but releasing four movies about them across the span of a month could lead to this becoming the cinematic event of 2028.

CinemaBlend will continue sharing the big updates on how Sam Mendes’ Beatles movies are progressing, so keep your eyes peeled. In the meantime, find out what movies are coming out later this year with the 2025 movie schedule.