First details leaked for Beatles 'Eight Days a Week' DVD

Order the U.S. regular DVD version, the deluxe DVD version, the Blu-ray regular or the Blu-ray deluxe versions. These are all playable in the U.S. And check out our "That's What I Want Beatles" store on Amazon for all this and lots more. For those in the UK, those links are below. From Amazon.de (Germany), order here. From Japan (Amazon.co.jp), order here. There hasn't been an official announcement, but Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk are showing release dates of November 18 in the U.S. and  November 21 in the UK for the "Eight Days a Week" DVD, but keep in mind that the dates shown on online sites are placed there by them and not by anyone from the record company, so they are not always accurate, especially early on.  Amazon.com is listing four versions, the regular DVD version, the deluxe DVD version, the Blu-ray regular and the Blu-ray deluxe versions. Earlier today, Amazon.co.uk was showing four regular DVD and Blu-ray editions -- a regular edition with one disc, a deluxe regular edition with two discs, a Blu-ray with one disc and a Blu-ray deluxe with two discs. (Be aware that the Amazon.co.uk links for Region 2 DVDs. Those discs will not play in the U.S. unless you have a multi-region player.)

The unofficial descriptions are below. Sadly, the bonus Shea footage does not appear in the description for any edition. An official announcement will be coming very soon.

Deluxe edition description: 

"IN 1962 FOUR YOUNG MEN JOHN LENNON, PAUL McCARTNEY, GEORGE HARRISON AND RINGO STARR CAME TOGETHER TO FORM THE 20TH CENTURY MUSICAL PHENOMENON KNOWN AS, “THE BEATLES.”

The band stormed Europe in 1963, and, in 1964, they conquered America. Their groundbreaking world tours changed global youth culture forever and, arguably, invented mass entertainment as we know it today. All the while, the group were composing and recording a series of extraordinarily successful singles and albums. However the relentless pressure of such unprecedented fame, that in 1966 became uncontrollable turmoil, led to the decision to stop touring. In the ensuing years The Beatles were then free to focus on a series of albums that changed the face of recorded music. 

Master storyteller and Oscar winner, Ron Howard, explores this incredible journey in his own unique way: How did The Beatles do this? How did they cope with all the fame and pressure? How did they not only survive, but go on to revolutionise popular music? With original interviews, footage, staggering live performances, and the intimate study of character that Ron Howard is known for, he puts us right inside this extraordinary adventure, answering the question everyone always wants to know: What was it like to be there?!!

 Featuring a wealth of specially created supplementary material totaling 100 minutes of extras, the deluxe home entertainment editions contain exclusively created featurettes for fans to delve even deeper into the band’s world.  Accompanying these are stunning, fully restored full length performances of some of the band’s most iconic tracks including “Twist and Shout” and “She Loves You” recorded at the ABC Theatre, Manchester in 1963 and “Can’t Buy Me Love” at the NME Awards, 1964, in London, bringing the experience of seeing The Beatles in concert fully to life for all fans. A full breakdown is included below.

2-disc Deluxe Collector’s Edition (DVD/BD) includes:

• 1 x BD/DVD feature disc
• + 1 Bonus Disc (containing approx. 100 minutes of extras, highlighted below)
• 64 page booklet with an introduction from director Ron Howard, essay by music journalist and author
• Jon Savage and rare photos from The Beatles’ private archive
• Words & Music (24 mins): John, Paul, George & Ringo reflect on songwriting and the influence of music from their parents’ generation, Lennon/McCartney writing for other artists, The Beatles as individual musicians, and the band as innovators.  Also featuring Howard Goodall, Peter Asher, Simon Schama and Elvis Costello.  The interviews with Paul and Ringo are unseen.
• Early Clues To A New Direction (18 mins): A special feature touching on The Beatles as a collective, the importance of humour, the impact of women on their early lives and songwriting, and the band as a musical movement. Featuring John, Paul, George & Ringo, along with Paul Greengrass, Stephen Stark, Peter Asher, Malcolm Gladwell, Sigourney Weaver, Whoopi Goldberg, Richard Curtis, Elvis Costello and Simon Schama.  Again the interviews with Paul and Ringo are unseen.
• Liverpool (11 mins): The early days in Liverpool of the late 1950’s and early 1960’s are brought vividly to life by those who worked closely with them at that time including fan club secretary Freda Kelly, Allan Williams an early manager, and Leslie Woodhead multi-award winning documentary film director.
• The Beatles in Concert (12 mins): Five great but rarely seen full length performances of The Beatles live in concert - Twist and Shout, She Loves You, Can’t Buy Me Love, You Can’t Do That and Help!

Additional features are:  

•  Three Beatles' Fans
• Ronnie Spector and The Beatles
• Shooting A Hard Day’s Night
• The Beatles in Australia
• Recollections of Shea Stadium
• The Beatles in Japan
• An alternative opening for the film

 and the regular edition description: 

"IN 1962 FOUR YOUNG MEN JOHN LENNON, PAUL McCARTNEY, GEORGE HARRISON AND RINGO STARR CAME TOGETHER TO FORM THE 20TH CENTURY MUSICAL PHENOMENON KNOWN AS, “THE BEATLES.”

The band stormed Europe in 1963, and, in 1964, they conquered America. Their groundbreaking world tours changed global youth culture forever and, arguably, invented mass entertainment as we know it today. All the while, the group were composing and recording a series of extraordinarily successful singles and albums. However the relentless pressure of such unprecedented fame, that in 1966 became uncontrollable turmoil, led to the decision to stop touring.

In the ensuing years The Beatles were then free to focus on a series of albums that changed the face of recorded music. Master storyteller and Oscar winner, Ron Howard, explores this incredible journey in his own unique way: How did The Beatles do this? How did they cope with all the fame and pressure? How did they not only survive, but go on to revolutionise popular music? With original interviews, footage, staggering live performances, and the intimate study of character that Ron Howard is known for, he puts us right inside this extraordinary adventure, answering the question everyone always wants to know: What was it like to be there?!!"

Japanese poster, trailer for The Beatles Ron Howard film "Eight Days a Week: The Touring Years"

The cover of a Japanese brochure, above, and the Japanese trailer, below, for "Eight Days a Week: The Touring Years."  You can order the vinyl or the CD here from Amazon for the U.S. "Live at the Hollywood Bowl" or here for the UK version.

Beatles' 'Eight Days a Week' film -- U.S. theaters, Hollywood Bowl CD thoughts, more

Courtesy Apple Corps. Ltd.

As the Beatles "Eight Days a Week" film gets closer, there's some news to be had. A long list of U.S. theaters to show the film has been posted online. The theaters for other countries are on the site, too, but the U.S. list has finally been more available. (We kept getting the European lists.)

We've been listening to the new "Live at the Hollywood Bowl" CD for about a week. We'll talk about it in a little more detail (no audio, sorry) on the next "Things We Said Today" show, but suffice to say that despite our misgivings that there isn't more on the disc, what's there sounds wonderful. For those used to the bootlegs (and who isn't?), the audio has been cleaned up and, as Allan Kozinn notes in our discussion on the show, the voices seemed to have had some reverb added. The new show should be up as early as Wednesday and possibly by Thursday on our Podbean site,  on the show's YouTube channel, my personal YouTube channel and on iTunes. We're also on WCRP1. Subscribe to us on iTunes and you can have the show downloaded automatically when it's available. 

And finally, look for the video for "Boys" to be used to promote the film, sources tell us. You won't find it on the BeatlesVEVO YouTube channel at the moment, though it was there recently, which is a good hint that something might be in the works.

And thanks to a certain C.F. for the picture of the ad in the September Record Collector, shown below.

And here's a review from the Hollywood Reporter..