Norwegian Film Secures Rights to Beatles Music

“Kon Tiki” directors Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg will helm the adaptation of Lars Saabye Christensen’s bestseller “Beatles.”

COLOGNE, Germany – A Norwegian film based on Lars Saabye Christensen’s 1984 best-seller Beatles will finally begin shooting following a deal that gives the movie’s producers the right to use the original music of The Beatles in their production.

Producer Jorgen Storm Rosenberg has signed a deal with Sony/ATV Music Publishing and EMI Music Nordics through his Storm Rosenberg shingle that secures music clearance for the Beatles original recordings in their entirety for the adaptation.

Christensen’s novel, one of the all-time bestsellers in Norway, is set between 1965-1972 and follows four Beatles-obsessed boys living in Oslo who take on the names of their favorite band members: John, Paul, George and Ringo. The Beatles’ music is a core element of the novel, with each chapter named after a Beatles’ song or album.

Kon-Tiki directors Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg will direct Beatles from a script by Axel Hellstenius (Elling). The film is set to begin shooting this June with a local release set for Feb. 14, 2014 – the 30th anniversary of the novel’s original publication.

Source: Hollywood Reporter