Maybe you didn't know that Disney and Robert Zemeckis planned to remake Yellow Submarine until today, but the internet is a magical place, so now you do. Today, Redditors posted a test animatic from the long-lost film. Check out the clip below.


As mentioned, this project was supposed to be a Disney/Zemeckis collaboration. Zemeckis was hot off his motion-capture successes The Polar Express and Beowulf, and everyone wanted to capitalize on a new wave of Beatlemania since the remastered albums and Beatles: Rock Band were about to come out in September 2009.

Variety reported on the project way back in August 2009. Everyone planned on this being a big hit, with merchandising deals and "prospects for spinning off both a Broadway musical and a Cirque du Soleil stage production."

Disney wanted to premiere the remake during the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Sgt_pepperCredit: Disney

Obviously, this project didn't get very far. After Zemeckis' A Christmas Carol performed poorly at the box office, Disney shuttered his ImageMovers Digital studio. In March 2011, Disney abandoned the project fully.

Funnily enough, this isn't the first time test footage has emerged from the film. In April this year, about 14 minutes of storyboards and animatics were posted online (which you can find with a bit of quick digging). It seems like the remake would have reused some of the original film's audio, as well as 16 Beatles songs, including "Yellow Submarine," "Baby You’re a Rich Man," "All You Need Is Love," "When I’m 64," "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds," and "Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band."

Empire reported at the time that the cast was to include Peter Serafinowicz as Paul, Dean Lennox Kelly as John, Cary Elwes as George, Adam Campbell as Ringo, and David Tennant as the Chief Blue Meanie. 

A Beatles tribute band, the Fab Four, would have performed the motion capture.

What do you think? Would you have watched this remake? Let us know in the comments.