Hulu Has Got To Get Ron’s Howard’s New Beatles Documentary Into Your Life
There are two pieces of big news here. First:Huluhas acquiredThe Beatles: Eight Days a Week, a new documentary about the greatest musical group in human history (sorry, everyone else) directed by Academy Award winnerRon Howard. Second: this purchase has signaled the launch ofHulu Documentary Films, a new arm for the streaming service that will, as its name implies, will focus on building a library of non-fiction movies.
Let’s start with that first bit. Despite being the most beloved, analyzed, and dissected band of the past century, The Beatles continue to be a a source of fascination for anyone with decent taste because their story is downright astonishing. How did four working class kids come together and change music forever? And how did they continue to create incredible album after incredible album despite slowly growing to hate each other’s guts? The story ofJohn Lennon,Paul McCartney,George Harrison, andRingo Starris one the greatest true tales in all of popular culture. Even if Ron Howard just organizes all of the known information into an entertaining package, this film should prove entertaining.
The Beatle: Eight Days a Weekwas originally announced in 2014and was produced with the full cooperation of McCartney, Starr,Yoko Ono LennonandOlivia Harrison. The film will follow a very specific period of the band’s career, cutting off right before the behind-the-scenes troubles started to getreallynasty. Here’s howDeadline, who announced this news, describes the film:
Of course, the other big news here is that Hulu is getting into the documentary business and it’s easy to see why – Netflix has beenkilling itwith their documentary selection, acquiring crowd-pleasers likeThe Battered Bastards of Baseball, moving personal portraits likeTig, and Academy Award nominees likeThe SquareandVirunga. Netflix has proven that people who won’t go to a theater to watch a doc will happily watch them at home and there’s no way Hulu is going to let them control that market. If you think the streaming showdown between the various streaming services was weird now, just wait until Hulu starts making plays for the docs Netflix will want.
The Beatles: Eight Days a Weekwill open in theaters this Fall before heading straight to Hulu.
