WELLINGTON -- Acclaimed "Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson announced Thursday he is working on a documentary detailing the making of The Beatles' classic album "Let It Be" 50 years ago.
The New Zealander said the film was based on 55 hours of never-before-seen footage and 140 hours of audio from the Fab Four's recording sessions.
Jackson said it provided an unprecedented insight into to band's creative process and their interactions in the studio.
"This movie will be the ultimate fly-on-the-wall experience that Beatles fans have long dreamt about," he said in a statement. "It's like a time machine transports us back to 1969 and we get to sit in the studio watching these four friends make great music together."
"Let It Be" was recorded in January 1969 but not released until May the following year after The Beatles put out "Abbey Road" and subsequently split, making it the final album the band released.
The footage was originally shot for a television special that never materialized. Instead, some of it was used in a Michael Lindsay-Hogg documentary also titled "Let It Be."
Fans have long believed the album's creation was marred by the rivalries and infighting that eventually tore the band apart but Jackson said that was a myth.
"Sure, there's moments of drama, but none of the discord this project has long been associated with," he said. "Watching John, Paul, George, and Ringo work together, creating now-classic songs from scratch, is not only fascinating -- it's funny, uplifting and surprisingly intimate."
Jackson's Wellington film studio will restore the old footage using techniques perfected on his BAFTA-nominated World War I documentary "They Shall Not Grow Old."
The Beatles film is being made with the cooperation of surviving band members Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, as well as the families of George Harrison and John Lennon.
A release date has not been finalized.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
Amazon.com Inc has bought the global television rights to "The Lord of the Rings," the company said on Monday, in what may be its biggest and most expensive move yet to draw viewers to its streaming and shopping club Prime.
Amazon said it will produce a multi-season series that explores new storylines preceding author J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Fellowship of the Ring," the first installment in the famed fantasy trilogy.
Three movies made of the trilogy in the early 2000s, filmed in New Zealand and based on Tolkien's novels, garnered nearly $3 billion at the box office and 17 Academy Awards.
New Line Cinema, which distributed the film trilogy, the Tolkien Estate and Trust, and publisher HarperCollins will work with Amazon to produce the television series.
Amazon did not say how much it was paying for the rights.
The project underscores a shift in Amazon's video programming. Its studio started in 2010 with a focus on unique shows beloved by critics, such as "Transparent," about a father coming out as transgender to his family.
That was a winning formula for attracting Hollywood talent, awards and buzz, though not Prime subscribers around the world.
Now, Amazon is looking for a dramatic show that could be a hit globally, much like HBO's popular fantasy series "Game of Thrones."
This puts Amazon in uncharted territory, with higher-than-usual production costs expected so it can transport viewers to Middle Earth.
Amazon justifies its spending on programming as a way to draw new sign-ups to Prime, whose members buy more goods more often from the world's largest online retailer.
"Amazon is committed to producing super high quality, recognized, branded entertainment," said Wedbush Securities industry analyst Michael Pachter. "That's a departure from shows like "Transparent" and "Catastrophe.""
"By definition this will be expensive," he added.
(Reporting by Jeffrey Dastin in San Francisco, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
source: news.abs-cbn.com
