From the Beatles to Green Day: when rock groups make their films
Six films which did not necessarily mark the history of the 7th art…
On the occasion of today’s release of Nimrods: A Green Day Comedyoffered in around fifty theaters in France, a look back at these rock stars who have reached the big screen. From the Beatles to the Foo Fighters, including KISS, several have tried it. Few have transformed the essay, leaving at best, in our video libraries, a few amusing nonsense…
The Beatles in Four Boys in the Wind (A Hard Day’s Night) (1964)
During 36 fictional and completely excited hours, the four boys from Liverpool try to reach a television studio on time. Hunted by hordes of fans in a trance, they run from trains to hotels, slaloming between an eccentric grandfather and managers on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
Role of the group: The Beatles play here fictionalized versions but very close to their own personality: John is the sarcastic one, Paul the charmer, George the discreet one and Ringo the more lunar one. Director Richard Lester imposes a frenetic pace and very free staging, which fits perfectly with their energy and humor. The filmmaker will reunite with the group the following year to Help!another crazy musical comedy which will push this idea of transforming the Beatles into movie characters even further. Sassy, funny and inventive, A Hard Day’s Night captures in full explosion the essence of Beatlemania while laying the foundations of the visual grammar of the future music video.
Box office: A small global success with 14 million dollars in revenue for a paltry budget, which has become a pop and vintage classic anchored in its time.
Kiss in Kiss against ghosts (1978)
A brilliant but completely deranged engineer, fired from an amusement park, decides to take revenge by building an army of destructive robots. His goal: to sabotage the KISS concert and destroy the most popular group of the moment.
Role of the group: The four painted rockers play their own role, but in an obviously very fantasized version: in this TV movie, their characters actually have superpowers. Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss use their extraordinary abilities to fight the robots and save the amusement park. Shot in the midst of KISS-mania, the film above all seeks to capitalize on their gigantic stage image: costumes, makeup, supernatural powers and concerts are on the program. A way to transform the group into a real superhero franchise… with much less subtlety than Marvel.
Box office: No theatrical release in the United States: the film was broadcast directly on television on NBC. It nevertheless attracted a huge audience and became, over the years, a friendly retro-cult fan.
The Ramones in Rock ‘n’ Roll High School (1979)
At Vince Lombardi High School, music is a religion and Riff Randell, a rebellious student, has a true cult of rock. When the new director, ultra-conservative, undertakes to establish order and ban rock from the establishment, the students trigger a general revolt.
Role of the group: unlike the others, the Ramones only have a secondary role and come in as reinforcements when their biggest fan calls on them. With punk riffs and wild concerts, they become accomplices in the high school insurrection, until a spectacular final explosion. But the film is not dedicated to them specifically. Besides, Cheap Trick was supposed to play in their place at the start before giving up. That didn’t stop Joey Ramone from composing several songs for the occasion, including the hit “Rock ‘n’ Roll High School.” The film will above all contribute to immortalizing the image of the Ramones as the cool and anarchist godfathers of a youth in revolt.
Box office: Released very confidentially, the film first arrived in homes on VHS, and went through several re-releases, becoming a cult classic for punk fans and midnight screenings.
Prince in Purple Rain (1984)
In Minneapolis, a young musician as talented as he is arrogant, nicknamed “The Kid”, tries to establish himself on the local funk-rock scene. Between musical rivalries, family violence and personal demons, he must find his way to becoming a true star.
Role of the icon: Yes, it’s not exactly a group, but Prince nonetheless remains a rock icon who forged his legend on film with this role inspired by his own life, and from his difficult beginnings in Minneapolis to his complicated relationships with his family and the music industry. He doesn’t just star in the film: he is truly its heart and soul. Purple Rain also allows him to do what he does best: go on stage. Several concert sequences are truly bravura pieces, while Prince creates a soundtrack that has become legendary.
Box office: A big success with 70 million dollars in worldwide revenue for a budget of only 7 million. Enough to definitively transform Prince into a global pop icon. It even won the Oscar for Best Song!
Tenacious D in Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny (2006)
Two magnificent losers dream of becoming the greatest rock band in history. To achieve this, they go in search of a magic pick carved from a tooth of Satan. A quest obviously as mystical as it is stupid.
Role of the group: Before being a hit at the cinema in Extra-large Love (2001) then Rock Academy (2003) and King Kong (2005), Jack Black created a satirical hard rock group with Kyle Gass. Tenacious D returns to the stage in this film where the two play completely fantasized versions of themselves, transforming the real story of Tenacious D into a totally absurd initiatory quest. Their songs advance the plot, the two friends meet rockstars like Ronnie James Dio and Dave Grohl, and the latter even plays Satan in a grand musical finale. Ben Stiller also appears in the film and produces it. In other words, the feature film functions as much as a schoolboy comedy as it does as a gigantic rock fan frenzy.
Box office: A dismal failure with only $13.9 million in worldwide revenue for a budget of $20 million. But the film found a second life on DVD and with fans, becoming a cult comedy among metal fans.
Foo Fighters in Studio 666 (2022)
Lacking inspiration to record their tenth album, the Foo Fighters moved into an Encino mansion known to be haunted. Very quickly, demonic forces get involved and Dave Grohl finds himself possessed by an entity which pushes him to massacre his own comrades.
Role of the group: The Foo Fighters go much further than a simple cameo here: the six members of the group all play their own roles and spend their time parodying themselves. Dave Grohl notably becomes a demonic and ultra-gory version of the tortured rockstar, while the other members find themselves gradually transformed into horror film victims. The entire group was directly involved in the project, which was filmed in a real house in Los Angeles. And the music is not just a pretext: the plot revolves directly around the recording of their tenth album, giving the film a real meta dimension.
Box office: Released in a post-pandemic context and in a relatively targeted manner, this nice guy went largely unnoticed and only grossed around $3 million worldwide. A small score which did not prevent it from finding its audience among fans of the group… and of horror films.
Green Day in Nimrods: A Green Day Comedy (2026)
Inspired by the troubles of Green Day’s youth and chaotic first tours, this comedy follows three broke and slightly naive high school students, convinced that they have landed the job of a lifetime: opening for the group for New Year’s Eve. They steal a car and then embark on a completely improbable road trip from Kansas City to Los Angeles.
Role of the group: Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool play with their legend and become the figures around which the three young heroes revolve. The film is directly inspired by the group’s true beginnings and imagery from the early years of Californian punk-rock, while playing on the gap between the myth of Green Day and the much less glamorous reality of the beginnings. The trio also participates in the soundtrack, making Nimrods a sort of cinematic extension of their universe. Moreover, the title of the film (which means “morons”) is taken from the group’s second album, Nimrod (1997).
Box office: Like Hurry Up Tomorrow a year earlier, the film was developed and produced by Live Nation Studios, the cinema arm of the global concert and tour organization giant. The ambition is clear: to bring the stage and the cinema ever closer together by transforming artists into fictional heroes. For the moment, the result is unclear: $1.3 million in worldwide revenue to date for Green Day (in the same waters as Hurry Up Tomorrow). So, selling millions of records definitely does not guarantee selling millions of movie tickets.
