The Beatles: Eight Days a Week

The Beatles: Eight Days a Week

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Ron Howard
Produced by
Written by Mark Monroe
Starring
Music by The Beatles
Edited by Paul Crowder
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release date
  • 15 September 2016 (2016-09-15) (United Kingdom)
  • 16 September 2016 (2016-09-16) (United States)
Running time
 97 minutes[1]
Country
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
Language English
Budget $5 million[2]
Box office $12.3 million[1]

The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years is a 2016 documentary film directed by Ron Howard about The Beatles' career during their touring years from 1962 to 1966, from their performances at the Cavern Club in Liverpool to their final concert in San Francisco in 1966.

The film was released theatrically on 15 September 2016 in the United Kingdom and 16 September in the United States, and started streaming on Hulu on 17 September 2016.

Production

The film was produced with the cooperation of Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and Beatle widows Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison.[3][4] In addition to directing the documentary, Ron Howard also served as a producer alongside Brian Grazer, Nigel Sinclair, and Scott Pascucci.[5] Written by Mark Monroe, the film was edited by Paul Crowder.[5] Marc Ambrose served as Supervising Producer

The Beatles in August 1965 at their press conference at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota

Prior to the film's release, it was announced that it includes 30 minutes of film footage shot for the band's 1965 concert at Shea Stadium. That concert was filmed by Ed Sullivan Productions and broadcast on TV as The Beatles at Shea Stadium in 1966.[6] Consisting of 11 songs, the set was originally shot on 35-mm film, but was digitally restored for the documentary to 4K resolution, in addition to remastered sound by Giles Martin, son of Beatles producer George Martin.[7]

Release

The film project was announced by Hulu on 4 May 2016 as its first documentary acquisition, as part of a planned Hulu Documentary Films collection.[4] The film premiered theatrically on 15 September, before debuting on the streaming service on 17 September.[5]

Box office

The Beatles: Eight Days a Week—The Touring Years grossed $2.9 million in the U.S. and Canada and $9.4 million in other territories, including $1.4 million in the UK, for a worldwide total of $12.3 million.[1]

In the film's opening weekend in North America, it made $785,336 from 85 theatres, for an average of $9,239.[8]

Critical response

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 95% based on 86 reviews, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "We love them, yeah, yeah, yeah—and with archival footage like that, you know The Beatles: Eight Days a Week—The Touring Years can't be bad."[9] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, the film has a score 72 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[10]

Accolades

On December 6, 2016 the film was nominated at the 59th Grammy Awards for Best Music Film,[11] eventually winning the award. It was also nominated for several other awards including the BAFTA Award for Best Documentary and the Satellite Award for Best Documentary Film. At the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards it was nominated in 5 categories including Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special.

Album

A remixed and remastered version of the 1977 album The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl was released on 9 September 2016, to coincide with the release of the film.[12][13]

Lawsuit

On 12 September 2016, Apple Corps. and Subafilms Ltd. were sued by representatives of Sid Bernstein, the concert promoter of the 1965 Shea Stadium concert, over the ownership of the master recordings from the event. While the copyright of the songs was not contested, the footage itself was claimed to be owned by Sid Bernstein Presents, LLC, the company representing Bernstein's interests, who himself died in 2013. The suit requested an injunction against the release of the footage in the film, asserting Bernstein's ownership "[by] reason of being the producer of and having made creative contributions to the 1965 Shea Stadium performance, as well as being the employer for hire of the Beatles and the opening acts, who performed at his insistence and expense".[14] The company had previously submitted applications to the Copyright Office to register ownership of the footage, which were rejected.[14]

Paul Licalsi, a lawyer for Apple Corps., described the lawsuit as "frivolous", citing an agreement that Bernstein had with the band's management over the film rights, as well as the fact that Bernstein himself had never made any claim during his lifetime.[15]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "'The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
  2. ↑ "The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years – PowerGrind". The Wrap. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  3. ↑ "HULU announces exclusive US streaming partnership for forthcoming Ron Howard documentary about the The Beatles' touring years". The Beatles. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  4. 1 2 Kastrenakes, Jacob (4 May 2016). "Hulu is getting into documentaries, starting with Ron Howard's Beatles film". The Verge. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 "Watch the Trailer for The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years". The Beatles. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
  6. ↑ McNary, Dave (28 July 2016). "Beatles Documentary ‘Eight Days’ to Include Shea Stadium Concert". Variety. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
  7. ↑ Lewis, Randy (29 July 2016). "The Beatles' 1965 Shea Stadium film due in theaters in September". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  8. ↑ "‘Sully’ Burns ‘Blair Witch’, ‘Bridget Jones’ & ‘Snowden’ At The Box Office Stake – Friday Evening Update". Deadline.com. September 18, 2016.
  9. ↑ "The Beatles: Eight Days A Week - The Touring Years (2016)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 1 August 2016.
  10. ↑ "The Beatles: Eight Days A Week - The Touring Years reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
  11. ↑ "'The Beatles: Eight Days a Week' Producer Nigel Sinclair 'Honored' by Best Music Film Grammy Nomination". Billboard. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
  12. ↑ Bonner, Michael (20 July 2016). "The Beatles to release remixed and remastered recordings from their Hollywood Bowl concerts". Uncut. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  13. ↑ Grow, Kory (20 July 2016). "Beatles Announce New 'Live at the Hollywood Bowl' Album". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  14. 1 2 Marinucci, Steve (13 September 2016). "The Beatles' Apple Corps. Sued Over Use of Shea Stadium Footage in 'Eight Days a Week' Theatrical Run". Billboard. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  15. ↑ Larson, Erik (12 September 2016). "Beatles Shea Stadium Show Takes Spotlight in Copyright Spat". Bloomberg. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
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