Kevin Macdonald’s much-anticipated documentary One to One: John & Yoko, which delves into a transformative period for one of rock's most iconic couples, is set to premiere in IMAX theatres on April 11. Following its theatrical release, the film will be available on HBO and Max by late 2025, as reported by Deadline.
Magnolia Pictures, which has acquired the North American rights, will take audiences back to the years 1971 to 1973, when John Lennon and Yoko Ono lived in New York’s Greenwich Village. The film promises to shed new light on this pivotal time in their lives, featuring previously unseen material and newly restored footage from Lennon’s August 30, 1972, performance at Madison Square Garden. This concert, part of the One to One benefit, marked Lennon’s final full-length live shows. The concert’s audio was remastered for the documentary by their son, Sean Ono Lennon. These performances were later released on the posthumous 1986 album Live in New York City.
The One to One concert, which also featured the talents of Stevie Wonder and Roberta Flack, was a benefit for the residents of Willowbrook State School on Staten Island, an institution for children with intellectual disabilities. The Lennon-Ono duo was moved to action after Geraldo Rivera’s exposé revealed the appalling, abusive conditions at the school.
Macdonald, whose directorial credits include One Day in September (1999), Marley (2012), and Whitney (2018), expressed his excitement over the film's release: “I am personally thrilled to be back with the Magnolia and HBO teams to be giving One to One: John & Yoko the ambitious theatrical release that I always dreamed of for this film,” he said. “This is a movie about music and love and politics, and about immersing yourself in the year of 1972—a period in time that feels uncannily like the world we are currently inhabiting. And more than anything else, I’m grateful to Sean Lennon and Mercury Studios for entrusting the incredible One to One concert to me.”
The announcement of the film's IMAX release comes on the heels of the North American premiere of Midas Man, a biographical film about Beatles manager Brian Epstein. Midas Man, starring Jacob Fortune-Lloyd as Epstein, will be available for direct-to-consumer viewing via Olyn.
