Sam Mendes Beatles biopics targets box office success with Paul Mescal, Harris Dickinson, Barry Keoghan and Joseph Quinn as the Fab Four

The Fab Four came together on stage this week for an all-star Beatles announcement that left some of the internet swooning.

No, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr aren't reuniting through AI for a joint album with Taylor Swift.

Instead, the 60s rock 'n' roll icons will be played by four leading heartthrobs of the moment: Paul Mescal (McCartney), Harris Dickinson (Lennon), Joseph Quinn (Harrison) and Barry Keoghan (Starr), in a big-screen quadrilogy directed by Sir Sam Mendes – all set for release in 2028.

Each actor fits the mould of "the internet's boyfriends" – a term defined by Glamour magazine as "a famous or semi-famous male person whom your entire Twitter feed has a crush on at the same time".

When Sir Sam walked out on stage with his "band" at Las Vegas' CinemaCon on Tuesday, the message was clear.

If 1960s Beatlemania was defined by teenage girls fainting and screaming, the plan now is arguably to get Gen Z – in internet parlance – "screaming, crying, throwing up" from behind their phone screens in excitement.

"Each star brings their own brand of modern-day hysteria," says the Evening Standard's celebrity reporter Lisa McLoughlin, "the kind fuelled by social media virality and fan video edits".

This is particularly true of Mescal, whose "popularity mirrors a smidge the frenzy the Beatles once sparked".

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