09/09/09: A Magical Date for Beatles Rock Band, Apple iPod, Shane Acker's '9'

The memorable date of September 9, 2009, or 09-09-09, is the hallmark release date of some of the most anticipated video games, music, devices, and movies of 2009.

The Beatles: Rock Band is the first video game to feature the Beatles' extensive song catalog, letting players play as the Beatles throughout their historic career, from Liverpool's Fab Four to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The video game will be available on Wii, Playstation 3, and the XBox.

Since the Beatles are almost synonymous with the number 9 (Beatles songs included "Revolution No. 9" and "One After 909," and John Lennon's solo career yielded "#9 Dream"), it's also fitting that a box set of remastered Beatles albums along with some rarities and some special DVD documentaries on the Beatles mania.

The Los Angeles Times reports that this box set has already sold out and is still taking pre-orders for release at a later date. In addition to the box set, EMI is also re-releasing the remastered individual studio albums, for those who don't feel like having an instant Beatles record collection.

From Apple Music news to Apple music news, cNet reports that Apple will hold an iPod event on September 9, at their "Let's Rock" event. The details of the event are veiled in secrecy, but most gadget hounds speculate an exhibition of Apple's next step in the evolution of the iPod, including a new Nano design to compete with its chief rival, the Microsoft Zune.

In movie theatres, Shane Acker's animated 9 takes advantage of the numerical anomaly and releases on September 9. The post-apocalyptic tale, with stylized stop motion, was based on Acker's Oscar-nominated animated short of the same name. The movie features an all-star voice cast, including Elijah Wood, Jennifer Connelly, John C. Reilly, Martin Landau, and Christopher Plummer.

Another movie, also named Nine, is due out later this year. A live action drama starring Daniel Day-Lewis, it tells a completely different story than Acker's movie. Fortunately, for movie ushers everywhere, it won't be released until later this year.

Taking advantage of unique date/year combinations is not anything new. Last year, on August 8, 2008, at 8 p.m., China opened the Summer Olympics. Whenever a new Friday the 13th movie comes out, it finds its way to a Friday the 13th release date.

Plenty of weddings will take place on September 9, 2009, just as August 8, 2008. Newlyweds, movie studios, record executives, and anybody else who wants a cheap, memorable promotion will only have three more days this century to use matching dates.

Beatles Official Site
Los Angeles Times, "Beatles box sets: An Amazon sellout"
cNet, "Apple Makes September 9 iPod Event Official"