It has been hard to find physical copies of director Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s 1970 Beatles documentary Let It Be in the years since its theatrical release, but Disney Plus is getting ready to debut a remastered version of the film.
Disney Plus announced today that Let It Be — a chronicle of the Beatles recording their Let It Be album in 1969 before breaking up the following year — will stream on May 8th. Like the docuseries The Beatles: Get Back, Let It Be will feature original film footage remastered by Peter Jackson’s Park Road Post Production and remastered audio created using the same de-mixing tools that recently led to the release of the Beatles’ final song. In a statement about Let It Be’s streaming premiere, Lindsay-Hogg recalled how the band’s breakup “very much darkened the perception of the film” when it first hit theaters and said he was moved to sign off on the rerelease after being “knocked out” by Jackson’s work on Get Back.
Jackson added that he was “absolutely thrilled” to see the new project come together and described Let It Be and Get Back as “one epic story, finally completed after five decades.”
“The two projects support and enhance each other,” Jackson said. “Let It Be is the climax of Get Back, while Get Back provides a vital missing context for Let It Be. Michael Lindsay-Hogg was unfailingly helpful and gracious while I made Get Back and it’s only right that his original movie has the last word…looking and sounding far better than it did in 1970.”
