Beatles movies will "trigger a new wave of Beatlemania" according to producer Giles Martin

23 September 2026, 14:18

Could Beatlemania Mk II be around the corner?

The Beatles, it could be argued, are the biggest band in the history of popular music.

While the likes of Queen, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd and Fleetwood Mac have matched or even beaten them for record sales (and certainly for longevity), it's hard to argue with the sheer pop impact of the Fab Four.

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That was most true in the middle of the 1960s, at a heady time dubbed Beatlemania.

It's tricky to draw a hard line for when the era started and ended, but we'd put the beginning around the summer of '63 and the release of 'She Loves You'.

Scottish promoter Andi Lothian claimed to have coined the term during The Beatles' tour on October 7 that year, with the press quickly picking it up – a Vincent Mulchrone feature in the Daily Mail dated October 21 blared "This is Beatlemania".

As for the end of Beatlemania, many would put it not at the band's break-up at the close of the decade, but instead just three years after it began, at the end of their final tour and amid the "Bigger than Jesus" controversy in the summer of '66.

The end of Beatlemania didn't mean the end of The Beatles, and even the split hasn't stopped the appreciation of their work and legacy even growing over the decades.

The acclaim for the Anthology project in the 1990s, including the release of 'Free As A Bird' and 'Real Love', and again for the Get Back docuseries and "final song' 'Now and Then' in 2023 shows that love for The Beatles has never stopped.

But it's been suggested that the planned 2028 release of The Beatles – A Four-Film Cinematic Event will have such an impact that we could be looking at something akin to 1963-1966 all over again.

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"I'm working on four very small films with Sam Mendes at the moment," joked Giles Martin – the son of original Beatles producer George Martin, – who has helmed the band's recent reissues and remastering.

"It's hard work, but they're gonna be very good. I think they’ll trigger a new wave of Beatlemania, to be honest with you."

Asked if he felt that The Beatles were in his DNA, Martin added to Billboard: "It's nice to be part of it. I understand why people are satisfied with me doing it. 

"I have to step up to the hopes of people that I could do a good job of this. Maybe there's a bunch of people who'd be able to do a better job, but I have to give my best and throw myself into this."