The Beatles are the most famous band of all-time, with 20 number-one hits in the United States and 800 million albums sold worldwide. But what if John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr (and, uh, Pete Best, I guess?) never existed. That’s the premise of Danny Boyle’s new movie Yesterday, about an unknown singer-songwriter named Jack Malik who gets hit by a bus and wakes up to a world where no one has heard of the Beatles. So, naturally, he pretends he wrote “Let It Be,” “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” and “Hey Jude.” Hopefully Jack passed on taking credit for “Sun King,” though.
Here’s the official plot synopsis.
Jack Malik (Himesh Patel) is a struggling singer-songwriter in a tiny English seaside town whose dreams of fame are rapidly fading, despite the fierce devotion and support of his childhood best friend, Ellie (Lily James). Then, after a freak bus accident during a mysterious global blackout, Jack wakes up to discover that The Beatles have never existed… and he finds himself with a very complicated problem, indeed. Performing songs by the greatest band in history to a world that has never heard them, and with a little help from his American agent, Debra (Kate McKinnon), Jack’s fame explodes. But as his star rises, he risks losing Ellie, the one person who always believed in him. With the door between his old life and his new closing, Jack will need to get back to where he once belonged and prove that all you need is love.
Yesterday opens on June 28.
