Yellow Submarine (2012 remake film)

Yellow Submarine was a planned computer-animated fantasy musical film based on the 1968 animated film of the same name by The Beatles and directed by Robert Zemeckis^[1], the film was to be produced by Walt Disney Pictures, Apple Corps Ltd. and ImageMovers Digital altogether as it was announced to be released in 2012 for the Summer Olympics in London.

Plot[]

A 3-D adaptation of the classic Beatles animated feature in which the British pop band traveled to a magical place called Pepperland in their yellow submarine to drive away the evil music-hating Blue Meanies.

Why It Was Cancelled[]

People at Disney were concerned at how motion capture animation looked after the box office failure of Mars Needs Moms.
In 2010, the Academy enacted a new rule regarding the motion capture technique employed in films such as A Christmas Carol (2009) and The Adventures of Tintin (2011), each directed by Academy Award for Best Director winners Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg, and how they might not be eligible in this category in the future. This rule was possibly made to prevent nominations of live-action films that rely heavily on motion capture, such as Avatar (2009). This prevented motion capture animated films from being Oscar baited.
Robert Zemeckis would later and chose instead to direct 2012's Flight his first live-action film since 2000 which was a critical and commercial success with Denzel Washington earning a Best Actor nomination at the Oscars for his performance as William "Whip" Whitaker Sr. and writer John Gatins earning a Best Original Screenplay nomination too after leaving Yellow Submarine and Disney in 2010.

Cast[]

Peter Serafinowicz as Paul McCartney
Dean Lennox Kelly as John Lennon
Adam Campbell as Ringo Starr
Cary Elwes as George Harrison
David Tennant as Chief Blue Meanie

Result[]

Robert Zemeckis announced to everyone that his animation studio ImageMovers Digital was out of business in 2010, and even cancelled the movie permanently as he either thought it was a terrible idea to make a movie based on the song or that it may upset many Beatles fans.
In 2023, it was announced that Netflix, Timeless Films, Align, GFM Animation, Bidibul Productions and L'Atelier Animation had picked up Yellow Submarine remake earlier in the year, and would be releasing it in 2024. The voice cast was also retained, with the addition of Ian McKellen as Old Fred, Rob Brydon as Jeremy Hillary Boob PhD, and Andy Serkis as Max announced at this point. Olly Reid were announced as the new director of the film, and Axis Studios was announced to have taken over animation of the film.