All Aboard! 'Yellow Submarine' Remake in the Works
The New York Times
August 20, 2009, 10:29 am
By Dave Itzkoff

More than 40 years after Old Fred fired up the titular vehicle of "Yellow Submarine" and used it to round up four Liverpool lads who would defend Pepperland from the Blue Meanies, Disney is preparing a remake of the Beatles' 1968 animated movie, Variety reported.

The original film was a traditional (if thoroughly trippy) 2-D cartoon directed by George Dunning and designed by Heinz Edelmann, in which the Beatles appeared only in a live-action segment tacked on at the end. The planned remake, to be directed by Robert Zemeckis ("Forrest Gump," "Who Framed Roger Rabbit"), will be a 3-D animated feature that would use the performance-capture technology seen in Mr. Zemeckis's "Beowulf" and his coming remake of "A Christmas Carol."

The Variety report said that Disney was still seeking to obtain rights to the Beatles songs used in the original "Yellow Submarine" film, including the title song and tracks like "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" and "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." The remake is being planned for a 2012 release.

No casting was announced for the motion-capture remake, though the project does call to mind Paul McCartney's recent remarks to Daniel Radosh in The New York Times Magazine: "In 10 years' time you'll be standing there, and you will be Paul McCartney. You know that, don't you?"

The original trailer

--

I guess there's just nothing new under the sun (at least, that Hollywood can find, sometimes).

~ Becky in Tucson