Three years ago, Sean Ono Lennon was asked to develop a music video to commemorate the 50th anniversary of “Happy Xmas (War Is Over),” the 1971 protest song by his parents John Lennon and Yoko Ono that has become a rare perennial – a warm-hearted Christmas song that doubles as an anti-war challenge, telling citizens that peace can be achieved “if you want it.”
But Lennon, 48, had no interest in making a simple video. That felt “unnecessary” for such a well-known title, he said in a recent interview. What intrigued him more was the possibility of expanding the song's message through a narrative film. After about two years of work, this project became War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko, directed by Dave Mullins, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.
The 11-minute film is set in a World War I-like combat zone, where two soldiers from opposing sides participate in a secret chess game, communicating their moves via a carrier pigeon dodging bombs over a snowy no-man's land. At the climax of the story, both armies are ordered into bloody hand-to-hand combat as the opening lines of John and Yoko's song play: “So this is Christmas/And what have done?”
For Sean Lennon, who in recent years has gradually assumed responsibility for managing his parents' artistic legacy – his mother, 91, is officially retired – the film is part of an ongoing process of making this work relevant to younger generations to keep. He is aware that even a Beatles classic can fade without care.
“It’s not about digging up the past,” Lennon said by phone. “You're competing with generations of people who didn't grow up with the same culture and art that most people my age and older take for granted. That’s why it’s very important to me that the message of peace and love, which is perhaps a guiding principle, is not forgotten.”
“What I don’t want,” he added, “is for my mother and father’s work to disappear into the sands of time.”
The film was made with the help of some significant forces. A longtime animator at Pixar, Mullins joined Brad Booker, the film's producer, in a new production company, ElectroLeague, in 2021. “War Is Over” is the first completed project. The score is by Thomas Newman, the Oscar-nominated composer whose credits include “The Shawshank Redemption” and “Wall-E.” Lennon and Ono are among the executive producers.
Lennon was connected to Mullins through a mutual friend, and at an initial meeting they developed the basic concept for the war setting, the chess game and the carrier pigeon. Mullins said he wrote the full script immediately afterward. (Lennon and Mullins are credited for the film's story, and Mullins is the sole author.)
Lennon had recently met director Peter Jackson through “The Beatles: Get Back,” his three-part, nearly eight-hour odyssey about the band's difficult recording sessions in early 1969, and Lennon asked him for advice on “War Is Over.” .” Mullins recalled that at a dinner with Lennon in March 2022, he watched in stunned silence as Lennon texted with Jackson, his phone making a small whistle with each message sent. “My heart was just beating a mile a minute,” Mullins recalled. “Oh my God, Peter Jackson has our script!”
Jackson's visual effects company, Weta FX, was responsible for animating War Is Over, although Jackson himself was uninvolved. In an email, he said he didn't see the film until it was finished.
“I’m really proud to have played a small part in bringing it to life,” Jackson said. “It’s entertaining and charming – and celebrates humanity without preaching.”
The film was created using Unreal Engine, a platform originally developed for video games by the company behind Fortnite. The animation process involved performance capture – recording real actors whose movements later become the raw material for computer animation.
Extensive work went into designing the look of the animation, which, although computer-generated, features a hand-drawn style, with outlines that can resemble charcoal drawings.
Production on “War Is Over” began before the Ukrainian War broke out, and Hamas attacked Israel just as they were completing the project. But Lennon said the goal was always to make the story more universal. “We tried to abstract the aesthetics of World War I into a kind of parallel dimension that wasn't specifically that war,” he said.
In the film, the two armies wear badges with contrasting geometric patterns: the symbols on one side are rounded, those on the other are angular. The battle scenes depict soldiers of different races and ethnicities, representing all of humanity.
“Sean insisted in our first conversation that he didn’t want the film to be set in a recognizable war,” Jackson recalls. “He wanted the message of the song to be the focus and not be tainted by Brits fighting Germans or Americans fighting Vietnamese.”
This message and the way it was delivered was key to the work of John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Before “War Is Over” was a song, it was part of a series of peace protests the pair staged in various forms throughout 1969, including “bed-ins.” In December of that year, they erected black-and-white billboards in twelve major cities around the world displaying variations of “The War is Over!” If you want it – Merry Christmas from John & Yoko.”
It was perhaps an early example of a guerrilla media campaign, using celebrity power to convey a subversive message. “I think you could argue,” Sean Lennon said, “that my parents invented memes before the term even existed.”
“War Is Over” is the latest Beatle project he has been involved with. He was a point of contact for Jackson on “Get Back” and on the release of “Now and Then,” the reworked 1970s John Lennon demo released in November as “the final Beatles song.”
For more than a decade, The Beatles and each individual member have been the subject of a series of reissues, repackages and reappraisals of various kinds – and it's not over yet. Last month it was announced that director Sam Mendes would direct four biopics, one for each Beatle, expected in 2027.
Lennon, who remains an active musician – he released his latest album, “Asterisms,” last month – said he viewed “War Is Over” as the kind of project that allowed him to honor his parents' legacy, one Opportunity that his mother gave him.
“I’m just grateful that she gave me the freedom to try strange things like that,” Lennon said. “You know, she's still the queen of the family.”