Beowulf director Robert Zemeckis and Disney are in negotiations to remake Yellow Submarine, the famous animated film based on the music of the Beatles. According to Variety, Disney is working on a "complicated rights deal" that would let Zemeckis use 16 famous Beatles songs including "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," "All You Need Is Love," and of course, the title track. Zemeckis would use the same motion-capture technology that can be seen in his "A Christmas Carol," which is due to release in November. That film stars Jim Carrey as the three ghosts of Christmas, along with Ebenezer Scrooge.
In the original Yellow Submarine, the Beatles themselves did not appear in the film until the closing scene, as other actors provided their voices.
Sources have said that this deal has been in the making for months, and might also lead Yellow Submarine to Broadway in the not-so-distant future.
The plan as of this moment is for the film to be released "around the 2012 Summer Olympics," which start July 27th in London.
The Beatles have always been a popular band, but their music is getting its own reintroduction: remastered versions of their albums will be released, and "The Beatles: Rock Band" will finally hit stores in September.
Aesthetically speaking, Zemeckis' affinity for motion capture technology has been giving "old text" a new life, something that is certain to happen here with this particular remake. Certainly, it will be interesting to see how he imagines the world of Pepperland, and what actors will play the Beatles.
But as far as Beatles film projects go, let's just hope this is an improvement from the black hole that was 2007's Across the Universe.
Source: Variety