Zemeckis motion-cap will live in THE YELLOW SUBMARINE!

by Matt Holmes
Beatles fan in the world, I still have a great fondness for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - probably the greatest example of a perfect album (sounds, lyrics, concept, album cover, etc) and I'm excited as hell to see the remastered versions of the most famous music band that ever lived are to hit CD on 09.09.09. I really hope they go straight to No. 1 in this country, like the Travelling Wilburys CD's did a few years back. Long live great music! Music that is built to last. And even though I've never picked up a Guitar Hero or a Rock Band in my life, the word on Beatles: Rock Band is good. Like - this is the reason why computer consoles exist kind of good. That game hits in two weeks. And now comes today's surprise announcement. Robert Zemeckis and Walt Disney Pictures are close to finalising a deal to remake the psychedelic 1968 animated Beatles film The Yellow Submarine using the motion captured technology Zemeckis has almost single-handily pioneered with his last three features The Polar Express, Beowulf and this festive's A Christmas Carol. Variety say the project is setup at Disney who with "an army of lawyers" are trying to broker a deal (with whom we don't know, I mean just who does own The Beatles catalogue these days?!?) to give Zemeckis access to 16 of the original Beatles songs. The studio's plan is to release the film during the Summer of 2012 and the London set Olympic Games, beginning July 27th.

31 years ago, Zemeckis broke into the industry with the live action movie I Want To Hold Your Hand, which was about, fittingly, Beatlemania. There is a huge audience for this. Commercially it could do GANGBUSTERS for Disney. Beatlemania is currently sweeping the world once again. Is it a fad, or will this new found re-love for the most famous music band that ever lived going to continue another for another three years?

I've never seen The Yellow Submarine but by all accounts it was a fun experimental film but by no means a classic. I love the look and feel of the video above, simply stunning and maybe I could sit through that kind of thing for 90 minutes and not get restless. As long as it's fun, as long as the characters have a soul behind those often creepy eyes that this technology has a habit of spewing up.

As long as it has energy, then it stands a chance. The music will go a great deal towards it, but Zemeckis' technology needs to be perfect.

Editor-in-chief
Editor-in-chief

Matt Holmes is the co-founder of What Culture, formerly known as Obsessed With Film. He has been blogging about pop culture and entertainment since 2006 and has written over 10,000 articles.