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The Beatles: Eight Days a Week

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This article is about the documentary film. For the song by the Beatles, see Eight Days a Week.

The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRon Howard
Written byMark Monroe
Produced by
Starring
Edited byPaul Crowder
Music byThe Beatles
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release dates
  • 15 September 2016 (2016-09-15) (UK, U.S.)
Running time
97 minutes[1]
Countries
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$5 million[2]
Box office$12.3 million[1]

The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years is a 2016 documentary film directed by Ron Howard about the Beatles' career during their touring years from 1962 to 1966, from their performances at the Cavern Club in Liverpool to their final concert in San Francisco in 1966.

The film was released theatrically on 15 September 2016 in the United Kingdom and the United States, and started streaming on Hulu on 17 September 2016. It received several awards and nominations, including for Best Documentary at the 70th British Academy Film Awards and the Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special at the 69th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards.

Production

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The film was produced with the cooperation of surviving Beatles Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and Beatle widows Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison.[3][4] In addition to directing the documentary, Ron Howard also served as a producer alongside Brian Grazer, Nigel Sinclair, and Scott Pascucci.[5] Written by Mark Monroe, the film was edited by Paul Crowder.[5] Marc Ambrose served as supervising producer.

The Beatles in August 1965 at their press conference at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota

Prior to the film's release, it was announced that it includes 30 minutes of film footage shot for the band's 1965 concert at Shea Stadium. That concert was filmed by Ed Sullivan Productions and broadcast on TV in 1966 as The Beatles at Shea Stadium.[6] Consisting of 11 songs, the set was originally shot on 35mm film and was digitally restored in 4K resolution for the documentary, in addition to having remastered sound by Giles Martin, son of Beatles producer George Martin.[7] The Shea Stadium concert was only included in theaters, and remains unavailable on home video release.

Release

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The film project was announced by Hulu on 4 May 2016 as its first documentary acquisition, as part of a planned Hulu Documentary Films collection.[4] The film premiered theatrically on 15 September, before debuting on the streaming service on 17 September.[5]

Box office

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The Beatles: Eight Days a Week—The Touring Years grossed $2.9 million in the U.S. and Canada and $9.4 million in other territories, including $1.4 million in the UK, for a worldwide total of $12.3 million.[1]

In the film's opening weekend in North America, it made $785,336 from 85 theatres, for an average of $9,239.[8]

Critical response

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On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 96% based on 103 reviews, with an average rating of 7.9/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "We love them, yeah, yeah, yeah—and with archival footage like that, you know The Beatles: Eight Days a Week—The Touring Years can't be bad."[9] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, the film has a score 72 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[10]

Accolades

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Year Award Category Nominee Result Ref.
2016 1st Critics' Choice Documentary Awards Best Director Ron Howard Nominated [11][12]
Best Music Documentary The Beatles: Eight Days a Week Won
2017 59th Grammy Awards Best Music Film The Beatles: Eight Days a Week Won [13]
70th British Academy Film Awards Best Documentary Nominated [14]
21st Satellite Awards Best Documentary Film Nominated [15]
Australian Film Critics Association Best Documentary Film (Local or International) Nominated [16]
69th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special Nominated
Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming Mark Monroe Nominated
Outstanding Picture Editing for a Nonfiction Program Paul Crowder Nominated
Outstanding Sound Editing for Nonfiction Programming (Single or Multi-Camera) Jon Michaels, Harrison Meyle, Dan Kenyon, Will Digby, Melissa Muik Won
Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Nonfiction Program (Single or Multi-Camera) Chris Jenkins, Cameron Frankley, Nathan Evans, Sam O'Kell Won

Album

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An expanded, remixed and remastered version of the 1977 album The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl was released on 9 September 2016, to coincide with the release of the film.[17][18]

Lawsuit

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On 12 September 2016, Apple Corps. and Subafilms Ltd. were sued by representatives of Sid Bernstein, the concert promoter of the 1965 Shea Stadium concert, over the ownership of the master recordings from the event. While the copyright of the songs was not contested, the footage itself was claimed to be owned by Sid Bernstein Presents, LLC, the company representing Bernstein's interests, who himself died in 2013. The suit requested an injunction against the release of the footage in the film, asserting Bernstein's ownership "[by] reason of being the producer of and having made creative contributions to the 1965 Shea Stadium performance, as well as being the employer for hire of the Beatles and the opening acts, who performed at his insistence and expense".[19] The company had previously submitted applications to the Copyright Office to register ownership of the footage, which were rejected.[19]

Paul Licalsi, a lawyer for Apple Corps., described the lawsuit as "frivolous", citing an agreement that Bernstein had with the band's management over the film rights, as well as the fact that Bernstein himself had never made any claim during his lifetime.[20]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "'The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on 24 November 2016. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
  2. ^ "The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years – PowerGrind". The Wrap. Archived from the original on 6 July 2017. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  3. ^ "HULU announces exclusive US streaming partnership for forthcoming Ron Howard documentary about the The Beatles' touring years". The Beatles. Archived from the original on 8 May 2016. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  4. ^ a b Kastrenakes, Jacob (4 May 2016). "Hulu is getting into documentaries, starting with Ron Howard's Beatles film". The Verge. Archived from the original on 7 May 2016. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  5. ^ a b c "Watch the Trailer for The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years". The Beatles. Archived from the original on 24 June 2016. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
  6. ^ McNary, Dave (28 July 2016). "Beatles Documentary 'Eight Days' to Include Shea Stadium Concert". Variety. Archived from the original on 31 October 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
  7. ^ Lewis, Randy (29 July 2016). "The Beatles' 1965 Shea Stadium film due in theaters in September". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 22 September 2016. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  8. ^ "'Sully' Burns 'Blair Witch', 'Bridget Jones' & 'Snowden' At The Box Office Stake – Friday Evening Update". Deadline Hollywood. 18 September 2016. Archived from the original on 25 July 2017. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  9. ^ "The Beatles: Eight Days A Week - The Touring Years (2016)". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on 3 May 2019. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  10. ^ "The Beatles: Eight Days A Week - The Touring Years reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 23 September 2016. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
  11. ^ Hammond, Pete (10 October 2016). "'13th,' 'O.J.: Made In America' & 'Gleason' Lead Nominations For First Critics' Choice Documentary Awards". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
  12. ^ Tapley, Kristopher (3 November 2016). "'O.J.: Made in America,' '13th' Top First Annual Critics' Choice Documentary Awards". Variety. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
  13. ^ "'The Beatles: Eight Days a Week' Producer Nigel Sinclair 'Honored' by Best Music Film Grammy Nomination". Billboard. Archived from the original on 4 November 2017. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  14. ^ "Bafta winners 2017, full list: victory for La La Land and I, Daniel Blake". The Telegraph. 13 February 2017. Archived from the original on 12 February 2017. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
  15. ^ "The International Press Academy Announces Winners for the 21 Annual Satellite Awards" (PDF). International Press Academy. 18 December 2016. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 February 2017. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  16. ^ "The 2017 AFCA Awards". Australian Film Critics Association. Archived from the original on 13 March 2018. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  17. ^ Bonner, Michael (20 July 2016). "The Beatles to release remixed and remastered recordings from their Hollywood Bowl concerts". Uncut. Archived from the original on 21 July 2016. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  18. ^ Grow, Kory (20 July 2016). "Beatles Announce New 'Live at the Hollywood Bowl' Album". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 30 August 2017. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  19. ^ a b Marinucci, Steve (13 September 2016). "The Beatles' Apple Corps. Sued Over Use of Shea Stadium Footage in 'Eight Days a Week' Theatrical Run". Billboard. Archived from the original on 17 September 2016. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  20. ^ Larson, Erik (12 September 2016). "Beatles Shea Stadium Show Takes Spotlight in Copyright Spat". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 19 September 2016. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
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