Fan CastingThe Beatles (2027)

In a move that ought to make fans of The Beatles twist and shout, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Oscar-winning filmmaker Sam Mendes and his Neal Street Productions have set plans to make four separate theatrical films — one on each of the members of music’s most famous and enduring band. Mendes will direct all four of the films, and this marks the first time Apple Corps Ltd. and The Beatles – Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and the families of John Lennon and George Harrison – have granted full life story and music rights for a scripted film. Mendes conceived this grand vision. He’ll tell interconnected stories, one from each band member’s point of view. The dating cadence of the films will be revealed closer to the films’ release. I’m told they are locking down writers quickly. This is perhaps the most ambitious project Deadline has revealed exclusively since our break that Tom Cruise and director Doug Liman are teaming with SpaceX and NASA to shoot a narrative film in outer space. That complicated project is still on the launch pad at Universal, but plans are set here for SPE to finance and distribute worldwide with full theatrical windows in 2027. All of this came about when American Beauty Oscar winner Mendes pitched the project in Hollywood, and just about everyone flipped their mop-tops for it. SPE’s Tom Rothman and Elizabeth Gabler, who gravitate to the most ambitious and prestige stuff, sparked to the opportunity and won the package.