What’s better (or worse, depending on your perspective) than a one musician biopic? Four musician biopics, simultaneously released and charting the history of perhaps the most famous band of all time: The Beatles. The films, some of the most anticipated of the next five years, are dropping on April 7th, 2028, with each film charting a portion of the band’s history through the point of view of a different member in each film.
Listen, are we a little weary of biopics these days? Sure. 2025 didn’t exactly present the best the genre had to offer, with notable releases like Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere landing with a thud. At this point they’ve sort of replaced ritzy period dramas in the “awards bait” conversation come Oscar season every year. Even a clunker like Bohemian Rhapsody might net a couple of trophies come the big night.
Still, the Beatles endeavour is an intriguing one for sure. For one thing, it’s got an insane cast that promises at least some killer performances. Director Sam Mendes (more on him later) has Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison, Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr, and Harris Dickinson as John Lennon. That’s a bevy of the most in-vogue leading men of the day and it doesn’t even get into the supporting cast, which features names like Saoirse Ronan, Anna Sawai, James Norton (his performance as manager Brian Epstein is my sleeper pick for the one that steals the show), and Aimee Lou Wood. There’s also Mendes himself to consider, who may be hit or miss but when he hits, whew, it flies out of the park–looking at you, Skyfall.
A four-film biopic endeavor when music biopic fatigue is at an all-time high might seem like setting everyone involved up to fail. Still, consider this: Mendes is often at his best when putting British history and iconography front and center and often putting it under a microscope. Skyfall is as inquisitive about what modern Britain is as it is thrilling and action-packed. 1917, removed from toxic awards season discourse, is a pretty stellar portrait of one of the key moments in modern British history. There are few directors better equipped to go this deep on the most iconic musical act the nation has ever produced.
2028 seems like a lifetime away at this point, but this week we got our first glimpses of the leading men in their roles. It made everything feel a bit more real, a bit more imminent. Mescal is a dead ringer for McCartney and plenty of jokes were made at Keoghan’s expense thanks to an admittedly insane (though also insanely accurate) haircut. There’s still no word on what the releases will be doing in terms of the band’s chronology, though by the looks of the images we can count on the Paul McCartney one to cover the band’s early days. The Beatles films will be here before you know it–get ready. It’s about time to come together and see if Mendes pulled this whale of an endeavour off.
Feature Image: Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney in The Beatles – A Four-Film Cinematic Event (Courtesy of Sony Pictures).
