Ron Howard’s Beatles Documentary to Launch Sales at Cannes
White Horse Pictures and Studiocanal will launch international sales of Ron Howard’s authorized documentary about The Beatles’ touring years — presenting unseen footage from early performances — at the Cannes Film Festival.
The untitled film, first announced last July, is produced with the full cooperation of Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison. White Horse’s Nigel Sinclair, Scott Pascucci and Brian Grazer of Imagine Entertainment are producing with Howard; exec producers include Apple Corps Ltd.’s Jeff Jones and Jonathan Clyde, along with Imagine’s Michael Rosenberg and White Horse’s Guy East.
The sound from the concerts will be restored by music producer and long-time Beatles collaborator Giles Martin. White Horse Pictures and Pascucci are repping U.S. rights.
“Ron is providing an all-access backstage VIP pass to The Beatles, giving fans fascinating insights on the band, and the ability to experience what it was like on the inside,” said Sinclair.
Howard’s film is aimed at exploring The Beatles’ inner world — how they made decisions, how they related to each other — along with their musical ability and complementary personalities. Footage will include performances at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, engagements in Hamburg and their final public concert in Candlestick Park in San Francisco in 1966.
The Beatles’ “Ed Sullivan Show” appearance in 1964 caused their popularity to explode. When the band stopped touring, they had performed 166 concerts in 15 countries and 90 cities.
This project was originally brought to Apple Corps by One Voice One World, which had invited Beatles fans to send in clips of home movies and photos. OVOW’s Matthew White, Stuart Samuels and Bruce Higham are co-producing the film.
Sinclair and East launched White Horse last year. Their recent Ford Mustang documentary, David Gelb’s “A Faster Horse,” premiered last month at the Tribeca Film Festival.
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