Screenhead

Disney and director Robert Zemeckis are talking it up to remake Yellow Submarine, the 1968 psychedelic animated film based on the music of The Beatles.  This is awesome because Zemeckis movies bring justice to turning this classic into a remake.  Zemeckis knowledge of performance-capture and 3-D animation will make the film. Although I really doubt it can be the same kind of movie as The Beatles production because no one can redo The Beatles, not even Zemeckis.  It really is about making the deal to use all of the songs in the original movie. If that doesn’t happen, well…no deal, no movie.

Disney has been working on the intricate rights deal to give Zemeckis access to 16 original Beatles songs for the movie. There is nothing like The Beatles music and what a coup this would be for Disney and Zemeckis.

The deal isn’t solid yet, but if Variety is reporting this as breaking news, it must be close to a sealed deal. The plan is to have Yellow Submarine ready to premiere around the 2012 Summer Olympics.

When the deal is solid we will see a union of cutting-edge 3-D feature technology with a strong, growing interest in The Beatles, again.  Interestingly, The Beatles appeared just in the film’s closing scene.  Hired actors (John Clive, Paul Angelis, Goeffery Hughes) provided the voices for the animated characters of Beatles Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.  So, realistically just having the music from the original movie could prove successful with The Beatles icon heavily connected by their music.

The original story took place in a magical setting called Pepperland, an undersea paradise protected by Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.  The band gets captured by the music-hating Blue Meanies and a soldier is dispatched to Liverpool to bring back the Fab Four, who jump in the submarine and save the day.

Obviously, the cinch to this deal and success of the remake is Zemeckis’ ability to use a treasure trove of classic Beatles tunes, starting from the title song to “All Together Now,” “Baby You’re a Rich Man,” “All You Need Is Love,” “When I’m 64,” “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” and “Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.”   Those songs are buzzing in my head now, I love their music.

Apparently,  the deal has been months in the making with ”armies” of lawyers (sounds expensive) and the rights will include the future prospects of a Broadway stage musical similar to what Disney accomplished with “The Lion King.”

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