A Beastie Boys Documentary From Spike Jonze Coming To Theaters And Apple TV+ In April
You won't have to fight for your right to see a documentary about the hip-hop group Beastie Boys from Oscar-winning Her and Being John Malkovich director Spike Jonze, but you will have to pay for a movie ticket or Apple TV+ subscription.
A new documentary called Beastie Boys Story has been picked up by Apple for release in select IMAX theaters this spring, and afterwards it will be exclusively available to stream on Apple TV+.
Beastie Boys Story was written by remaining band members Mike "Mike D" Diamond and Adam "MCA" Horovitz (sadly, Adam "Ad-Rock" Yauch passed away back in 2012) along with Jonze himself, who also produced the movie as well. The documentary will focus on the history and legacy of the rap group, described in a press release as "an intimate, personal story of their band and 40 years of friendship."
Beastie Boys was one of the most influential hip-hop groups ever. Their album Licensed to Ill was the best-selling rap album of the 1980s and the first rap album to go number 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, and it stayed there for five weeks. They remained a mainstay of rap through the 1990s and 2000s up until Adam Yauch started battling cancer in 2009. The last time the band performed live as a trio was at Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in support of their album Hot Sauce Committee, and following Yauch's death in 2012, the group disbanded.
Jonze is the perfect filmmaker to tackle this documentary, having directed the music videos for Beastie Boys tracks like "Sabotage" and "Sure Shot" over 25 years ago. The press release also describes Jonze as the "former grandfather" of the band, which seems to be some kind of inside joke that we don't get, probably because we're not cool enough.
The documentary will have a special cut released in select IMAX theaters for a limited time starting on April 3, and then the regular version of the documentary will premiere on Apple TV+ on April 24. As of now, there's no details on how the IMAX cut of the movie differs from what will be coming to Apple TV+, but if you're a big Beastie Boys fan, you'll probably want to go out of your way to see this one in theaters.
Alongside Spike Jonze, Mike Diamond and Adam Horovitz, Beastie Boys Story is also executive produced by Dechen Wangdu-Yauch, John Silva, John Cutcliffe, Peter Smith, Thomas Benski, Dan Bowen, Sam Bridger, Michele Anthony, David Blackman and Ashley Newton. Meanwhile, Grammy winner Jason Baum and Amanda Adelson are producers on the movie, along with Fresh Bread and Pulse Films in association with Polygram Entertainment.