Disney Acquires Rights to Elton John Documentary Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Forum 1 year ago

Disney Acquires Rights to Elton John Documentary Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Disney announced that a documentary on the iconic musician Elton John would be coming to their Disney+ streaming service, as well as a limited theatrical run.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road: The Final Elton John Performances and The Years That Made His Legend comes from Academy Award-nominee R.J. Cutler, as well as filmmaker David Furnish, and is designed to serve as the official feature documentary on the legendary artist, and is compromised of unseen concert footage of him over the past 50 years, as well clips of hand-written journals and present-day footage of him and his family.

At the heart of the documentary, however, is John’s final months on the road, culminating in John’s final North American show at Dodger Stadium in November 2022. In a report on the documentary, Deadline also reported that Disney has also acquired the rights to record that final concert, although it’s unclear exactly if they plan on livestreaming it or if they will simply film it for documentary and broadcasting purposes.

According to the announcement of the film, Disney noted that the plan for the documentary is to get a festival run and limited theatrical release before finally premiering and streaming exclusively on Disney+.

“There are no superlatives left to describe Elton John and his impact on music and culture — he’s simply unrivaled,” said Bob Chapek, CEO of The Walt Disney Company. “Like a good Disney story, Elton’s music has both universal appeal and the ability to connect with audiences on a deeply personal level. He has been part of the Disney family since 1994 when he helped make ‘The Lion King’ an instant classic, and we could not be more excited to collaborate with him on this new documentary.”