Disney Announces The Beatles Film ‘Let It Be’ to Release on Streaming

The Beatles fans will soon be able to watch the making of one of the band’s most memorable albums on Disney+.

Walt Disney Studios announced Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s 1970 Beatles film — shot during the creation of their Let It Be album — will be available to view for the first time in 50 years on Disney+.

A synopsis for the film, also dubbed Let It Be, noted that it was “once viewed through a darker lens” after its original release in cinemas in April 1970, a month after The Beatles officially broke up. However, the film has now been “brought to light” through restoration and added additional context from the band’s previous docuseries The Beatles: Get Back, which was released on Disney+ in 2021.

The studio noted in a press release that the film features exclusive footage from The Beatles’ recording sessions in the studio and on the Apple Corps’ London rooftop in January 1969, where they wrote, recorded and first performed their Grammy Award-winning album as a group.

“… How often do you get to see artists of this stature working together to make what they hear in their heads into songs?” Lindsay-Hogg said in a statement accompanying the release. “And then you get to the roof, and you see [The Beatles’] excitement, camaraderie and sheer joy in playing together again as a group and know, as we do now, that it was the final time, and we view it with the full understanding of who they were and still are and a little poignancy.”

With Lindsay-Hogg’s permission, the film had been restored by Peter Jackson’s team at Park Road Post Production from its original 16mm negative, and its sound had been remastered using the same MAL de-mix technology also applied to Get Back, per the release.

“I’m absolutely thrilled that Michael’s movie, Let It Be, has been restored and is finally being re-released after being unavailable for decades,” added Jackson. 

“I was so lucky to have access to Michael’s outtakes for Get Back, and I’ve always thought that ‘Let It Be’ is needed to complete the Get Back story. Over three parts, we showed Michael and The Beatles filming a groundbreaking new documentary, and Let It Be is that documentary – the movie they released in 1970,” he continued. “I now think of it all as one epic story, finally completed after five decades.” 

The film had previously been released on video formats in 1980, but had not been previously licensed for release on DVD, Blu-ray or streaming, according to Billboard. 

The popular British rock band hinted at the film’s announcement on April 15 with a post on its social media websites — which was also posted by the Disney production company —  depicting four square frames with the words “At Last…” at the top and the logos for the band and Disney+ featured on the bottom. 

“There will be an answer,” Disney+ captioned the picture, alluding to the lyrics in their classic song “Let It Be.”

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The film stars Beatles band members John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, with an appearance by keyboardist and singer-songwriter Billy Preston. The Beatles are listed as executive producers on the film alongside Neil Aspinall.

Let It Be will debut exclusively on Disney+ on May 8, 2024.