Director Peter Jackson’s anticipated Beatles documentary series, Get Back, is set to exclusively debut on Disney+ over the Thanksgiving day weekend later this year. The show will air three two-hour episodes, on November 25, 26 and 27, Deadline is reporting.
The Walt Disney Studios, Apple Corps Ltd. and WingNut Films Productions Ltd. announced the dates for the original Disney+ documentary series. Disney has also shared that The Beatles: Get Back will feature a “wealth of tremendous footage Peter Jackson has reviewed, which he has spent the past three years restoring and editing.”
The Academy Award-winning filmmaker added, “In many respects, (filmmaker) Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s (who directed the 1970 British documentary, Let It Be) remarkable footage captured multiple storylines. The story of friends and of individuals. It is the story of human frailties and of a divine partnership. It is a detailed account of the creative process, with the crafting of iconic songs under pressure, set amid the social climate of early 1969. But it’s not nostalgia – it’s raw, honest, and human. Over six hours, you’ll get to know The Beatles with an intimacy that you never thought possible.”
Jackson added, “I’m very grateful to The Beatles, Apple Corps and Disney for allowing me to present this story in exactly the way it should be told. I’ve been immersed in this project for nearly three years, and I’m very excited that audiences around the world will finally be able to see it.”
The Beatles: Get Back will showcase the Grammy Award-winning band’s intimate recording sessions during a pivotal moment in music history. The show was compiled from over 60 hours of previously unseen footage shot in January 1969 by Lindsay-Hogg, as The Beatles worked on material that ultimately became the Let It Be album and feature-length movie. The documentary series will also feature clips from more than 150 hours of unheard audio, all of which have been restored.
Jackson is the only person in 50 years to have been given access to the private film archives. The Beatles: Get Back chronicles John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr as they planned their first live performance in over two years, which became their famous rooftop show. The performance , which became The Beatles’ final live performance as a group, will be seen in its entirety for the first time ever.
The documentary series will also include the writing and rehearsal of 14 new songs that were originally intended to be released on an accompanying live album. The show will also feature the songs and compositions that were featured on The Beatles’ final two albums, Abbey Road and Let It Be.
Ahead of the documentary series’ Disney+ premiere over the Thanksgiving weekend, Apple Corps Ltd./Callaway Arts & Entertainment will release The Beatles: Get Back book on October 12. The 240-page collectible hardcover will complement the show with transcriptions of The Beatles’ recorded conversations and hundreds of exclusive, never before published photos from the three weeks of sessions. The Beatles: Get Back documentary series and book were made with the support of McCartney, Starr, Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison.
