these youngsters are suffering from a highly contagious disease called beatlemania. The symptoms are...screaming hysteria hyperventilation fainting fits seizures and spasmodic convulsions It isn't fatal but it sure is fun.


The time is 1964, and the Beatles, already a hugely popular group, are about to go on the Ed Sullivan Show for the first time, an appearance that launched them into a worldwide phenomenon. Already, girls are fainting during their concerts from sheer excitement at being in the same theater with them. Pam Mitchell (Nancy Allen) is happy enough to be getting married but wants to bed one of the "Fab Four" before she does. Grace Corrigan (Theresa Saldana), a dedicated fan, is certain that if she can get some exclusive photos of the Beatles, her career as a photographer will be secured. And then there are two people who feel that the future of civilization as we know it depends on their efforts to ruin the Beatles' appearance on Ed Sullivan's show. In this madcap comedy, when these people (and others besides) descend on the New York hotel the Beatles are staying in, things begin hopping. This comedy was Robert Zemeckis' first feature. A protégé of Stephen Spielberg, he went on to direct Forrest Gump, Back to the Future, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit? among other popular features


I Wanna Hold Your Hand is a 1978 comedy film directed and co-written by Robert Zemeckis, which takes its name from the 1963 song of the same name by The Beatles. It was produced and co-written by Bob Gale.
The film is about "Beatlemania" and is a fictionalized account of the day of the Beatles' first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show (February 9, 1964). It was released in 1978 by Universal Studios.
Zemeckis' directorial debut, this was the first film that Steven Spielberg executive-produced. Even though modestly budgeted, in order to convince Universal to bankroll it, Spielberg had to promise studio executives that, if Zemeckis was seen to be doing a markedly poor job, he would step in and direct the film himself.[1]
Despite positive previews and critical response (The New York Times wrote that "the whole film sparkles with a boisterous lunacy" and called its plot "positively dazzling"),[2] the film was not a financial success and was considered a flop, unable to recoup its rather modest $2.8 million budget. Zemeckis later said, "One of the great memories in my life is going to the preview. I didn't know what to expect [but] the audience just went wild. They were laughing and cheering. It was just great. Then we learned a really sad lesson....just because a movie worked with a preview audience didn't mean anyone wanted to go see it."[3]
Over a year later, in December 1979, four of the film's stars -– Bobby DiCicco, Wendie Jo Sperber, Nancy Allen and Eddie Deezen -– appeared in the Spielberg-directed comedy film 1941, which was written by Gale and Zemeckis.


Release Date: April 20, 1978

Distrib: Universal

Boxoffice: $1,944,682 2013: $6,598,600