The much-anticipated documentary Becoming Led Zeppelin, which chronicles the legendary band's meteoric rise, is set to reach an even wider audience early next year.
Sony Pictures had already announced exclusive IMAX screenings on Feb. 7, following preview events just days earlier. Now, the film’s general release in standard cinemas has been confirmed for Feb. 14, with tickets already available.
Director Bernard MacMahon employed state-of-the-art technology to breathe new life into archival footage, aiming to make it as vivid and immersive as if it were captured yesterday.
The official synopsis promises an enthralling experience: “Powered by awe-inspiring, psychedelic, never-before-seen footage, performances, and music, Bernard MacMahon’s experiential cinematic odyssey explores Led Zeppelin’s creative, musical, and personal origin story. The film is told in Led Zeppelin’s own words and is the first officially sanctioned film on the group.”
The production of Becoming Led Zeppelin was anything but rushed. Speaking to The Upcoming in 2021, MacMahon described the project as closer to a feature film than a traditional documentary.
“We told the story from their childhood through to 1970, when they became the biggest band in the world,” he explained. “To tell that powerfully is a full-length feature film in itself.”
Writer Allison McGourty, who collaborated with MacMahon, revealed how carefully the project was conceived. “We did [our] preparation without telling a soul,” she said. “We wanted to be sure it would work on screen before we presented it.”
The creative team later brought their vision directly to Led Zeppelin’s surviving members. “Then we flew to London and met with Jimmy Page, then John Paul Jones, and then Robert Plant and Pat Bonham,” McGourty recalled.
Given the band's history of declining documentary offers for decades, convincing them was no small feat. But McGourty and MacMahon were driven by the scope of the story they wanted to tell. “We believed in the higher purpose of the story that we were planning to tell,” McGourty said.
With a mix of groundbreaking visuals, rare footage, and the band’s own perspective, Becoming Led Zeppelin promises to be a definitive cinematic experience for longtime fans and newcomers alike.
