‘Let It Be’ Is Now Streaming on Disney+: How to Watch The Beatles Documentary for Free
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For the first time in 50 years, Beatles fans will get to go inside the making of band’s final album. Let It Be, the 1970 documentary helmed by Michael Lindsay- Hogg, arrives on Disney+ on Wednesday (May 8).
The documentary, restored by The Beatles: Get Back director Peter Jackson’s production company, shares rare footage of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr from the recording studio to the Apple Corps’ rooftop in London where the Fab Five wrote and recorded Let It Be and performed live for the last time as group.
“Let It Be was ready to go in October/November 1969, but it didn’t come out until April 1970,” Lindsay-Hogg recalled, according to Disney. “One month before its release, The Beatles officially broke up. And so the people went to see Let It Be with sadness in their hearts, thinking, ‘I’ll never see The Beatles together again. I will never have that joy again,’ and it very much darkened the perception of the film.”
“But, in fact, how often do you get to see artists of this stature working together to make what they hear in their heads into songs? And then you get to the roof, and you see their excitement, camaraderie, and sheer joy in playing together again as a group and know, as we do now, that it was the final time, and we view it with the full understanding of who they were and still are and a little poignancy. I was knocked out by what Peter [Jackson] was able to do with Get Back, using all the footage I’d shot 50 years previously.”
“I’m absolutely thrilled that Michael’s movie, Let It Be, has been restored and is finally being re-released after being unavailable for decades,” said Jackson. “I was so lucky to have access to Michael’s outtakes for Get Back, and I’ve always thought that ‘Let It Be’ is needed to complete the Get Back story.”
Read on for ways to join Disney+ and stream Let It Be.
How to Stream Let It Be on Disney+
Let It Be is a Disney+ Original streaming exclusively for subscribers. If you’re not a Disney+ subscriber, here’s a short rundown of how much it costs, and how to land a free subscription.
Disney+ plans start at $7.99/month for the Basic subscription and $11.99/month for Disney+ Premium (ad-free streaming).
Looking for a Disney+ deal? You have a few options, the easiest being a bundle plan, which saves you up to 37% off. Subscribe to the Disney+ Basic Duo plan with Hulu for $9.99/month, or the Trio plan with Hulu and ESPN+ for $14.99/month.
Disney+ no longer offers free trials, but you can go through a third party such as Verizon to get a free subscription. Currently, Verizon customers can score a free six-month subscription to Disney+ with select Unlimited phone plans.
Disney+ offers a huge collection of exclusive TV series, movies, documentaries, concert specials and sports. Let It Be leads a trio of music documentaries arriving on Disney+ this month including Queen Rock Montreal premiering on May 15, and The Beach Boys documentary on May 24.
Watch the trailer for Let It Be below.
Latifah Muhammad
Billboard