BMG has announced that it will shortly release Moonage Daydream, a definitive new portrait of David Bowie by Brett Morgen (The Kid Stays In The Picture, Cobain: Montage Of Heck, Jane).
It is the first film to be officially sanctioned by Bowie’s estate.
Moonage Daydream will include “never-before-seen footage, performances, and music” and will be “guided exclusively by Bowie’s narration.”
The motion picture features 47 musical tracks, mixed from their original stems. Bowie’s long-time collaborator Tony Visconti is the film’s music producer.
The film, including its title track, draws extensively on Bowie’s 1970 to 1977 song catalogue in which BMG has a 25% stake. Songs include Changes, Starman, Ziggy Stardust, The Jean Genie, All The Young Dudes, Life On Mars, Rebel Rebel, Fame, Young Americans and Golden Years.
In January, Warner Chappell Music acquired the global music publishing rights to David Bowie’s song catalogue, though BMG’s relationship with the catalogue remains unaffected.
This has been a five year labour of love to honour one of the greatest song catalogues in music history
Fred Casimir, BMG
An official press release stated that BMG and its co-production partner Live Nation Productions, the executive producers and financiers of the film, have “licensed US distribution rights to Neon while Universal Entertainment International will handle the movie outside the US. North America cable and streaming rights have been licensed to HBO and HBO Max.”
Speaking of the film, BMG EVP global repertoire Fred Casimir said: “This has been a five year labour of love to honour one of the greatest song catalogues in music history. BMG is proud to build on our long-term relationship with the David Bowie estate working hand-in-hand with our partners Live Nation Productions to bring Brett Morgen’s vision to the big screen.”
Moonage Daydream is the first film in a multi-picture deal between Brett Morgen and BMG for IMAX productions. Designed from conception as a unique cinematic experience, the film will be released in IMAX in select markets.
The upcoming documentary is the latest project in BMG’s growing line of music-related films and television projects including Dio: Dreamers Never Die, David Crosby: Remember My Name, the Joan Jett documentary Bad Reputation, Rudeboy: The Story of Trojan Records, and Echo In The Canyon.
Recently, BMG partnered with Pulse and Quickfire Films and Lewis Capaldi for his debut feature-length documentary film. BMG is the long-time music publisher of Capaldi’s songs.
Moonage Daydream is written, directed, edited, and produced by Brett Morgen. Executive Producers are Hartwig Masuch, Kathy Rivkin Daum, and Justus Haerder for BMG; Michael Rapino, Heather Parry, and Ryan Kroft for Live Nation Productions; Bill Zysblat, Tom Cyrana, Aisha Cohen, and Eileen D’Arcy for RZO; Billy Gerber, and Debra Eisenstadt. The feature is a Public Road Productions film.
Based on recent Official Charts Company data and Music Week analysis, David Bowie recently cemented his leadership position for UK vinyl sales in the modern era.
You can read the story of how Warner Music finally released the rock icon's lost album Toy here.
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