(Credits: Far Out / Apple Corps LTD / John Bauld)
Sun 15 February 2026 1:00, UK
If there’s one thing pretty much everyone in the world agrees with, at least those of us who possess both ears and a brain, it’s that The Beatles were absolutely incredible.
So insanely talented, so boundary pushing, so era-defining, there has never been a band like them, and never will be. Actor and comedian Jamie Foxx, for one, knows this, and therefore he passes the test and can come round to our house to play one day.
The reason we mention Foxx and the Fab Four is that he was one of a host of celebs asked a few years back to name their favourite Beatles track, and he went with ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band’ from the album of the same name, which is a fine choice because 1) it hits way harder than you might think and 2) hard enough that the Beastie Boys, or rather their producers the Dust Brothers, sampled it on the track ‘The Sounds of Science’ from their 1989 album Paul’s Boutique, which if you hadn’t heard, is a bona fide hip-hop masterpiece.
Foxx said of ‘Sgt. Pepper’s’: “That sticks out because of the movie. Everything they did . . . incredible talent, man. It’s just amazing how great they were, how they influenced our culture and how the music still stands up today.”
Now you may well be quite rightly thinking ‘hold on, which movie?’ because although John, Paul, George and Ringo were in the habit of making films – Help, A Hard Day’s Night and Magical Mystery Tour most famously, there wasn’t initially any kind of movie released to accompany the 1967 masterpiece Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
But when one did emerge, it was some 11 years later, as an ensemble cast of famous musicians and actors came together to make a comedy based on the groundbreaking album. Starring Peter Frampton and the Bee Gees, the film was accompanied by a double album featuring covers of Beatles songs, highlights from which included Aerosmith doing ‘Come Together’ and Steve Martin’s unhinged rendition of ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’.
Of course, Foxx himself is no stranger to legendary musicians; his performance in the Ray Charles biopic Ray in 2004 brought him worldwide acclaim and an Oscar for ‘Best Actor’, the same year he was also nominated for the Michael Mann thriller Collateral. And thanks to his musical chops, releasing a double-platinum-selling album the following year called Unpredictable, he became only the fourth artist in history to win an Academy Award and have a number one record in the US.
After suffering some health issues in the last couple of years, Foxx has had a fairly quiet spell without a real hit, appearing last year in the widely panned Robert De Niro thriller Tin Soldier and the also widely panned but slightly less so Cameron Diaz Netflix comedy Back in Action. He’ll be hoping things pick up soon, however, as he takes a role in the forthcoming Mike Tyson series and a rumoured remake of Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch.
Beatles fans, meanwhile, have a feast of film and music to look forward to over the next couple of years, with Sam Mendes’ quadrilogy of movies currently in production, one film for each of the Mop Tops and starring Barry Keoghan, Paul Mescal, Harris Dickinson and Joseph Quinn. Slated for release in April 2028, it’s believed all four instalments will be released on the same day, meaning fans could be in for a long old stretch at the cinema and a massive popcorn bill.
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