Let It Be will not be out this year
 |
| Still not ready for prime time: Let It Be. |
In a recent birthday interview with Access Hollywood, Ringo was asked a question which we at WogBlog are very interested in: Is the “Let It Be” movie ever going to see the light of day? Ringo had this to say:
“Well, it’ll see the light of day, everything sees the light of day, you know. And … yeah I’m sure it will come out, it’s not planned for this year. But yeah, it’ll be out”.
So that means the vendors of bootleg DVDs
One of our readers, Tom Weber sent us this list of Beatles related films he would like to see released on DVD or Blu-ray:
1. The Beatles Let It Be
2. The Beatles at Shea Stadium
3. Lennon: Rock’n’Roll Circus – Blu-ray cleaned up
4. The Beatles: singles videos including alternate versions
5. Harrison: Tour 1974 or at least a full Japan concert from 1992
6. Lennon: Double Fantasy studio film
7. McCartney: Wings at the Hague 1972
8. The Beatles: Anthology Blu-ray wide screen with upgraded videos
This comment has been removed by the author.
Wings at the Hague would make for a great Blu-ray! Was the entire concert recorded?
Another great release would be the Glasgow concert from 1979, although it would have to be one of those SD blu ray releases.
+Mitchell Stewart YEA! I REALLY want the 1979 wings concert. Can you explain to me whats the SD blu ray you talked about? And why it has to be that way?
Standard Definition? (presumably because it wasn’t shot in HD in the first place but on something like 16mm or an early video format)
According to reports, you could see the fillings in John’s teeth.
Major Beatles releases don't usually seem to come on years divisible by 5 — those have been reserved for Lennon retrospectives because it's the anniversary of his birth/death. My guess is that Let It Be will be 2017 or 2018, since 2016 will be the Beatles live film by Ron Howard.
I don't think that blu ray of Anthology would not have much to offer as most of the historical footage was made for television anyway and I doubt that the 1994 interviews were made in HD. Squeezing the originally 4:3 footage to 16:9 would ruin the authenticity of the material. Only thing that would be worth upscaling to hd is the film material and there is not enough of it to justify the new release in my opinion. I would love, however, to have the Anthology rescreened on television, there is a new generation to see it.
It's ridiculous to take so long to release Let It Be. Consider this: if it were to be released in 2017, that would be 48 years after it was made. That's the equivalent of having Laurel and Hardy's first feature film being released in 1969. What possible audience would that have appealed to then? The Beatles Generation are of an age when there are fewer and fewer still around. Certainly, there are younger fans around, but other than historical interest, they will never be able to appreciate the same reaction to the film as people who grew up with it.
Bealtes in Paris '65 and Beatles in Japan '66 or anything in '66 (Germany) should be added to the list.
No doubt Universal/Apple will release the same music (remastered in 2009) again with yet another Beatles box set… USA, Japan, Italy, France… Where next? Sweden? Swaziland?
It seems they are now content with repackaging the same old thing and not caring about what real fans want. The fact that Let It Be and also a definitive promos/TV compilation are still unavailable, 45 years after the group disbanded, is ludicrous….
Well, it gives me more time to plow though the many NAGRA recordings.
BTW: Your blog is the GOLD standard of Beatle blogs. Always fun when I come once a week to see what is new and/or in the news.
Let it Be isn't unreleased though. It was released in 1970 and on VHS in the US in the 1980s. Laurel and Hardy's first DVD was in 2004, forty years after Stan died. So there's a long way to go before Let It Be has no potential audience.
What about the new documentary directed by Ron Howard and produced by White Horse Pictures? Any news on that?
The Ron Howard movie could appear anytime. It was shown to buyers in Cannes this year and territorial agreements made although scarcely reported. This means it's 'in the pipeline' to marketing stage.
On May 6th, Giles Martin tweeted: Look out for this next year…
White Horse, Studiocanal begin sales on Beatles doc
So, at least according to that tweet, The Ron Howard doc is not on until next year.