In 2025, the documentary “Becoming Led Zeppelin,” which traces the beginnings and quick ascent of the legendary English rock group, will be shown on the big screen.
On February 7, “Becoming Led Zeppelin,” which Sony Picture Classics purchased earlier this year, will be released exclusively in Imax. On February 5, Imax will host early access screenings in 18 cities before to the debut in over 200 theatres.
The film’s director, Bernard MacMahon, said in a statement that “the cinematic power of Imax paired with the film’s authentic sound creates an immersive and transportive viewing experience letting audiences feel like they are there, in the venues with the band.”
With never-before-seen film and comments from the infamously private band—which consists of Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham—”Becoming Led Zeppelin” delves into their beginnings. Known as a “hybrid docu-concert,” the documentary also features rare, unreleased performances, such as Led Zeppelin’s early tour concert venues. As the title implies, “Becoming Led Zeppelin” focuses on the band’s formation in the 1960s rather than covering their whole history. The documentary is “told in Led Zeppelin’s own words and is the first officially sanctioned film on the group,” a press statement claims.
According to writer-producer Allison McGourty, “we flew back and forth across the Atlantic for five years searching attics and basements for rare and unseen film footage, photographs, and music recordings.” “Then, using specialized techniques, we moved each piece of media so that these 55-year-old music and video clips would appear and sound as if they had just been taken out of the lab.”
In 2021, a draft version of “Becoming Led Zeppelin” made its debut at the Venice Film Festival. Owen Gleiberman, Variety’s chief film reviewer, commended the documentary’s “extraordinary footage,” but he thought it catered too much to the band’s viewpoint. Although “Becoming Led Zeppelin” has a lot of important information, he commented, “it feels like a Led Zeppelin infomercial on some level.”
“Becoming Led Zeppelin” will be “inspiring to young people and legacy defining for generations to come,” according to Tom Bernard, co-founder and co-president of Sony Pictures Classics.
When Bernard first saw Led Zeppelin in August 1969 at the Texas International Pop Festival in Grapevine, Texas, he had an incredible experience that has stuck with him ever since. “There isn’t a single film that so masterfully immerses you in an artist’s life, demonstrates how their music was created, and gives you the impression that it was brand-new.”
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