photo via Apple Corps Ltd.

A new Beatles documentary is on its way, Apple Corps Ltd. and WingNut Films announced today. The still-untitled project will be helmed by Oscar-winning Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson and will take from over 50 hours of rare footage of The Beatles in the studio as they worked on their iconic album Let It Be between Jan. 2 and Jan. 31, 1969, a year and a half before the legendary band broke up. The announcement comes on the 50th anniversary of The Beatles famous final public performance atop Apple’s office in London.

Jackson says that he expects the film to be “the ultimate ‘fly on the wall’ experience that Beatles fans have long dreamt about—it’s like a time machine transports us back to 1969, and we get to sit in the studio watching these four friends make great music together.” A press release notes that the film’s production has the blessing of surviving Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, along with Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison.

The director also explains that the footage doesn’t, as some may expect, show The Beatles’ oft-rumored in-fighting while creating the album: “I was relieved to discover the reality is very different to the myth. After reviewing all the footage and audio that Michael Lindsay-Hogg [director of 1970 documentary Let It Be] shot 18 months before they broke up, it’s simply an amazing historical treasure-trove. Sure, there’s moments of drama—but none of the discord this project has long been associated with. Watching John, Paul, George, and Ringo work together, creating now-classic songs from scratch, is not only fascinating—it’s funny, uplifting and surprisingly intimate. I’m thrilled and honoured to have been entrusted with this remarkable footage – making the movie will be a sheer joy.”