Beatles' "Yellow Submarine" to be Remade in 3D Animation

On August 19, Disney announced it was teaming with director Robert Zemeckis to remake the Beatles’ 1968 animated classic, Yellow Submarine in the same 3D animation style Zemeckis is using in the upcoming A Christmas Carol, which stars animated versions of Jim Carrey in all of the major roles. Zemeckis’ submarine will use 16 Beatles’ songs.


From Variety:

Disney and Robert Zemeckis are looking to catch the wave of Beatlemania, floating a new 3-D "Yellow Submarine" for the bigscreen, with merchandising in tow and prospects for spinning off both a Broadway musical and a Cirque du Soleil stage production.

The original version of the film was animated in a psychedelic style (not dissimilar to Terry Gilliam animations in Monty Python’s Flying Circus about a year later) and featured several Beatles songs, including “Sgt. Peppers’ Lonely Hearts Club Band" and "All You Need is Love". The Beatles did not do their own voices in the film and their only active participation was in the live-action closing scene.

This is the latest example of the Beatles seeming resurgence in pop culture that began with “Love” the Vegas Cirque De Soleil production (and soundtrack album) based on remixes and remastered Beatles songs and continues next month with the release of Beatles: Rock Band video game and the entire remastered Beatles catalogue.

The original Yellow Submarine movie is both of its time and a timeless classic, melding of music and visuals. Hopefully, the Zemeckis version, planned for a 2012 release, will be a celebration and tribute to the original rather than solely a crass remake, but if gets more people to experience the music of the Beatles, then it can’t be all bad, can it?