Disney And Imax Take In $500K For One-Day Screening Of Beatles' Rooftop Concert Footage

Walt Disney Co DIS pocketed about $500,000 in ticket sales from a one-day-only screening of an edited version of “The Beatles: Get Back” at nearly 70 IMAX Corp IMAX theaters.

What Happened: According to The Hollywood Reporter, a one-hour special edition of the eight-hour “The Beatles: Get Back” focused on the band’s last live performance on the roof of their Apple Corps headquarters in London. The screening was booked for Jan. 30, which has a special resonance since the concert occurred on Jan. 30, 1969 — and it also didn’t hurt that there were no major new films in national release over the weekend, which gave a wide berth for this special presentation.

The screening also included a broadcast interview with filmmaker Peter Jackson, who culled “The Beatles: Get Back” from footage that was shot but never used in the 1970 documentary “Let It Be."

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Why It Matters: “The Beatles: Get Back” was originally conceived as a theatrical release, but transitioned into a three-part series that premiered on Disney+ last November. The “Let It Be” footage was shot in 16mm and was digitally restored and enhanced for its streaming release. The film screened on Sunday was digitally remastered again with proprietary Imax technology that enabled the film to fit the company’s wide-screen venues.

While it is not common for a film to go into theaters after it has been shown on a streaming service, Beatles fans did not seem to mind — Imax reported that a majority of its venues in major cities were sold out for the screening.

“The Beatles: Get Back” was shown on Sunday at the BFI Imax theater in London, and a second screening is being planned in select global markets for the Feb. 11-13 weekend.

Photo: A screenshot of the legendary rooftop concert from "The Beatles: Get Back," courtesy of Disney+.