With Peter Jackson's impressive World War I documentary They Shall Not Grow Old set to arrive in U.S. theaters starting this Friday (keep an eye out for my review tomorrow), the award-winning director is already setting his sights on a new doc, one that explores the iconic band, The Beatles. Jackson announced today that Apple Corps Ltd. and WingNut Films Ltd. are collaborating on the new film that will be based around 55 hours of never-released footage of The Beatles in the studio, shot between January 2nd and January 31st, 1969.

Jackson will be reuniting with his They Shall Not Grow Old partners, producer Clare Olssen and editor Jabez Olssen for the new project. The footage will be restored by Park Road Post of Wellington, New Zealand, to a pristine standard, using techniques developed for the BAFTA-nominated WWI documentary film. The untitled film is currently in production with the full co-operation of Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono Lennon, and Olivia Harrison. Executive producers are Ken Kamins for WingNut Films and Jeff Jones and Jonathan Clyde for Apple Corps.

Following the release of this new film, on a date which has yet to be announced, a restored version of the original Let It Be movie directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg will also be made available. Having seen They Shall Not Grow Old, this lighter take on thematic material will be a welcome change, especially as it gets a chance to show off Jackson's new restorative achievements.

Here's a sample of what Jackson had to say about the project:

"The 55 hours of never-before-seen footage and 140 hours of audio made available to us, ensures this movie will 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.”

And here's the full post from Jackson's Facebook page: