The long-anticipated documentary Becoming Led Zeppelin, directed by Bernard MacMahon, is finally making its way to cinemas. The film, which chronicles the legendary band’s “meteoric rise to stardom,” has been acquired by Sony Classics Pictures for distribution in North America, Latin America, Southeast Asia (excluding Japan), and the Middle East.
While release details for the UK and Europe remain undisclosed and the exact release date has yet to be confirmed, the documentary is now complete. Initially announced in 2019, the film underwent changes following its rough cut debut at the Venice Film Festival in 2021. According to Variety, it now features “a brand-new sound mix (and) newly unearthed material from the archives of all four band members.”
In a press release, MacMahon stated, “Becoming Led Zeppelin is a film that no one thought could be made. The band’s meteoric rise to stardom was swift and virtually undocumented. Through an intense search across the globe and years of restoration of the visual and audio archive found, this story is finally able to be told.”
The documentary promises “unprecedented access” to the band, marking “the first and only time they have participated in a documentary in 50 years.” It includes new interviews with Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, and John Paul Jones, along with archive footage of the late John Bonham, who tragically died in 1980 at the age of 32.
In 2007, surviving members Jimmy, Robert, and John Paul, along with John Bonham’s son, Jason, reunited for a one-off performance at London’s O2 arena in tribute to late Atlantic Records President Ahmet Ertegun. Despite initial plans for additional shows, no further dates materialized. Robert Plant has since confirmed that a tour has not been discussed and is unlikely to ever happen. He remarked, “There has not been any discussion about any tour ever since – nor will there be. So there you go. It’s just one of those weird, odd things in the world of Led Zeppelin, really, another part of the Led Zeppelin phenomenon.”
