Lights, camera, and… Beatlemania!
In 2028, Liverpool is set for another major Beatles moment.
Sam Mendes’ The Beatles – A Four-Film Cinematic Event will tell the band’s story across four interconnected pictures, with one dedicated to each member of the Fab Four. The productions are currently scheduled to arrive in cinemas on 7 April 2028.
The concept feels wonderfully appropriate. Four Beatles, four perspectives, and four films. Everyone receives their own spotlight, while Liverpool gets a very well-deserved encore.
Four films for the Fab Four
The new cinematic Beatles will be played by four familiar names:
- Harris Dickinson as John Lennon
- Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney
- Joseph Quinn as George Harrison
- Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr
Mendes will direct the complete project, with each film presenting the story through the experiences of one band member. The individual narratives will connect, allowing audiences to see key moments from several perspectives.
Their journey includes childhood friendships, Liverpool clubs, Hamburg adventures, global fame, musical experimentation, and four distinct personalities sharing one extraordinary career.
A single production would have faced a packing challenge worthy of a family holiday suitcase. Four films create space for the details, relationships, controversies, and personal stories that shaped the group.
Are you already shaking with excitement? Then the next bit of news will blow your mind.
It is the first time that Apple Corps and the Beatles have awarded full life-story and music rights for a scripted production. Audiences can expect the songs to sit at the heart of the adventure.
Mendes has described the endeavour as the first “binge-able theatrical experience”. Beatles fans may wish to approach the release with the organisational skills of a tour manager: playlists updated, screening times prepared, refreshments arranged, and favourite Beatle carefully selected.
Liverpool takes its place on screen
The Beatles travelled across the world, yet every version of their story leads back to Liverpool.
Filming took place across the city during 2026, with streets in Waterfront North, Walton, and the Dingle transformed into period sets. Vintage vehicles and costumes, and carefully recreated details, brought the Liverpool of the 1950s and 1960s back to life. For those who had the privilege of living through that golden age of Scouse culture, it will be a nostalgic moment they will remember for the rest of their lives.
Cameras also arrived around Mendips, John Lennon’s childhood home in Woolton. Paul Mescal was spotted nearby as a young Paul McCartney, riding a bicycle with a guitar. Credit to the screenwriter for that one. Few images could capture the beginning of the Beatles story quite so neatly.
Liverpool Town Hall also welcomed the production for a recreation of the band’s famous 1964 homecoming. During the original event, an estimated 200,000 people filled the surrounding streets following the northern premiere of A Hard Day’s Night.
The scene, besides giving the film a genuine connection to Liverpool’s history, also offers the Town Hall another opportunity to appear alongside four famous faces. Some buildings simply understand show business.
The city behind John, Paul, George and Ringo
Each Beatle had his own relationship with Liverpool, which makes the four-film structure especially interesting.
John Lennon’s early story takes audiences to Woolton, Mendips, and Strawberry Field. The nearby St Peter’s Church fête provided the setting for his first meeting with Paul McCartney, creating one of popular music’s most important introductions.
Paul’s Liverpool includes 20 Forthlin Road, where he and John developed their songwriting partnership. It is hard to imagine how a few songs played in an ordinary bedroom, in an ordinary house, on an ordinary street, went on to change the course of human history.
George Harrison’s life connects with Arnold Grove, Upton Green, and the bus journeys that helped form his friendship with Paul. Ringo Starr’s story belongs to the Dingle and Admiral Grove, communities that played a central role in his early life.
Together, these places create a map of the band before fame arrived.
Liverpool visitors can follow that map today. The Beatles’ history lives across houses, streets, schools, churches, pubs, and music venues. Every location adds another piece to the story, and walking through it is an indelible experience.
A new generation—and a new wave of visitors
The films have the potential to introduce the Beatles and Liverpool to a huge new audience.
Paul Mescal, Joseph Quinn, Barry Keoghan, and Harris Dickinson each bring enthusiastic younger followers to the project.
Some viewers will enter the cinema as committed Beatles fans. Others may begin with an interest in the actors and leave with a freshly created playlist.
From there, Liverpool becomes the natural next step.
Viewers can become listeners, listeners can become travellers, and travellers can become the latest people patiently waiting for their turn beside the Penny Lane sign.
Get ready!
The world fell in love with four lads from Liverpool.
Soon, it may fall in love with Liverpool all over again.
