Yellow Submarine remake officially announced
As Beatlemania sweeps the world all over again this week with the issuing of the band’s remastered catalogue on CD and The Beatles: Rock Band video game, The Walt Disney Studios, The Beatles‘ company Apple Corps Ltd., and Robert Zemeckis’ Disney-owned studio ImageMovers Digital officially announced today at the D23 Expo that a deal has been struck to “develop a new 3D performance capture adaptation  of the 1968 hit animated film Yellow Submarine to be written and  directed by Robert Zemeckis”.
Walt Disney Studios chairman Dick Cook made the announcement, confirming Hollywood trade publication Variety‘s report from last month which said a deal was in the works —news that rankled many but made me very happy.
The film will incorporate 16 of the Beatles’ original recordings, including classic songs like “All You Need Is Love”, “Eleanor Rigby”, and “Lucy  in the Sky with Diamonds”. No target release year or date was mentioned, but there seems no reason to doubt Variety‘s claim of Summer 2012, considering the factual accuracy of the rest of their story.
Again, this is simply a dream collaboration: “one of the most exciting and anticipated project’s coming from Disney” in the next few years, as I put it in my earlier post. To have Disney and Robert Zemeckis put breathtaking 3-D images to the lyrics and melodies of the Beatles’ songs should prove to be quite an experience for moviegoers.
Interestingly, in the mini documentary included with remastered version of the Yellow Submarine album released on Wednesday, Paul McCartney conspicuously mentions Disney at least twice as an influence on the Beatles’ decision to create the original Yellow Submarine animated film (poster pictured), released in 1968.
The complete press release, with extended quotes from Cook, Zemeckis, and Apple Corps CEO Jeff Jones, after the jump.
