Sony Pictures Classics (SPC) has acquired all rights for North America, Latin America, the Middle East, Benelux and Southeast Asia excluding Japan to documentary Becoming Led Zeppelin.
Directed by Bernard MacMahon and written by MacMahon and producer Allison McGourty, the film explores the origin and rise of seventies rock giant Led Zeppelin. Paradise Pictures produced in association with Big Beach, and Michael Clark, Alex Turtletaub, Duke Erikson, Cynthia Heusing, David Kistenbroker, Simon Moran and Ged Doherty served as executive producers.
According to SPC, Becoming Led Zeppelin is the first officially sanctioned film on the group (though the band’s 1973 concert run at Madison Square Garden was the basis for 1976 theatrical release The Song Remains The Same) and has been given a new sound mix since its work-in-progress screening at the 2021 Venice film festival.
Also added is newly unearthed material from the archives of surviving Zeppelin members Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones as well as interviews with the late John Bonham and footage of the group playing in 1969 at the Fillmore West and the Atlanta and Texas pop festivals.
MacMahon commented: “We have spent years designing this film to be experienced on the big screen with the best possible sound. Sony Pictures Classics are the perfect partners because they are true believers in the theatrical experience and are passionate about giving the millions of Led Zeppelin fans a chance to see and hear them on the greatest screens and sound systems in the world.”
Page said: “When I saw the early cut of the film premiered, at the Venice Film Festival, it was amazing. The energy of the story, and the power of the music, is phenomenal.”
A statement from SPC said: “We loved this film from the first moment we saw it. It has been nothing short of extraordinary to witness the organic process Bernard, Allison, and their team have taken to sculpt what has turned out to be the definitive film on the origins of Led Zeppelin.
”We are honoured to be working with such committed artists who have crafted a film that immediately transports you right into the energy and excitement of that time. It seamlessly weaves astonishing performances, archival footage and interviews through superb editing and impeccable sound design. This film is a grand theatrical experience and we are very proud to be bringing it to the world.”
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