WMG / Yesterday (2019)

Per wiki policy, Spoilers Off applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.

The reason Jack remembers the Beatles

During the 12-second blackout, Jack is hit by a bus and probably would have died had he not been wearing a helmet. This means he came close to death at the exact moment the world changed. So maybe the shock associated with such a traumatic incident is what allowed him to retain the knowledge of the Beatles (and other things that no longer exist), as opposed to the rest of humanity who were just going about their daily lives. Of course, the fact that Leo (from Moscow) and Liz (from Liverpool) also remember the Beatles suggests that they experienced some sort of trauma during the blackout too like a heart attack or a car accident.

• The Quiet Earth follows a similar premise to that.

Jack goes on to write Harry Potter after the end of the movie

After giving up his music career and getting together with Ellie, Jack mentions that he feels like Harry Potter after he defeated Voldemort. Ellie responds, "Who?" prompting Jack to realize that Harry Potter doesn't exist in the new timeline. It's played as a throwaway gag, but it's easy to imagine Jack reasoning that being a writer, even one as rich and famous as J.K. Rowling, is not nearly as demanding as being a music star, and furthermore that writing is a career he could easily do from Lowestoft (other than book tours and such). Admittedly, there is no proof Jack remembers Harry Potter as well as he does The Beatles, but he could definitely have given in to a lesser temptation.

• Unlikely as he probably would feel the same remorse and the same fear of getting caught.
  • Also, how can you memorize everything in seven books? Song lyrics are easier to memorize because of the way they are arranged and the tune that goes with them. You don't quote books like you sing songs. Jack most likely wouldn't be able to write the books the way Rowling did, even if he wanted to.
• An alternative ending has the same scene with the roles reversed: Ellie brings up Harry Potter and Jack responds “Who?” It’s easy to believe that Jack would let it drop after what he’s been through but you have to wonder if such a dedicated schoolteacher would be willing to deprive the children of the world of the Harry Potter books.
• Maybe one of the other people who were transferred to the alternate reality has memorised the books and will go on the same journey as Jack.

In reality, this is a movie about what would happen if cigarettes didn't exist

Someone wished, for the sake of health, that cigarettes disappeared from the face of the earth. The wish came true, and "cigarette" is nothing more than a town in France. The health-conscious wisher also wished Coca-Cola out of existence, but forgot about Pepsi and other soft drinks.

So how would this affect everything else? Smoking is a social event. People strike up conversations on their smoke breaks. The members of The Beatles probably bonded a lot over cigarettes, so they no longer had that same camaraderie. If J.K. Rowling was a smoker, she might have come up with the basic idea for Harry Potter on a smoke break. Just as the now little-known John Lennon was never shot, the millions of people who died from smoking-related illnesses never got lung cancer in the first place.

• So, this "someone" must have won the Karma Houdini lottery and avoided any persecutions once the changes made by the 12-second blackout somehow wore off after the film's events.
• Funny you should bring up Rowling and smoking. She was a smoker, and gave it up - she crewed gum a lot to handle the urge.

Cigarettes did exist in the new timeline.

They just were called by another name and people stopped smoking earlier than in the original timeline.

George Harrison is also alive.

He moved to America so he wasn't found by the people who found John Lennon.

-George Harrison died of lung cancer in real life. Cigarettes don’t exist in the movie. The odds of George being alive are very good.

Jack will be sued by his greedy manager.

He deceived her after all.

Either the woman from England or the man from Russia remember the "Eleanor Rigby" lyrics

At least, the parts Jack doesn't. They'll help him reassemble the complete song.

The 12-second blackout and the rest of the film's plot was All Just a Dream

The rest of the film takes place during Jack's coma as he was in the hospital recovering from being hit by the bus. The blackout, in reality, was caused by a thunderstorm and only lasted 5 seconds without changing history as we know it, but in Jack's coma dream it lasted 12 seconds, and for some reason in said coma dream he believes that half of pop culture no longer exists and decides to start "repairing" things by making people re-remember that The Beatles existed. He'll probably awake from his coma disappointed that people still remember The Beatles and Coca-Cola and Harry Potter and stuff.

It's a dream and an Inception

Jack's friends knew he wasn't Star material, and didn't want him throwing away his life chasing a dream that won't come true. So they arranged this dream for him instead. Advanced hacking was used to cause the blackout, and the bus driver was paid to hit Jack to put him in a coma. From there...

• Ellie, as Jack's closest friend and manager, is the Architect. She plotted a scenario and universe that would set Jack going in the direction the team needed him to. She deleted the Beatles, and other significant parts if his life (his past with smoking, his favorite soda) from this universe; she designed the crowds, Lennon's beach home, and the rest, to manipulate Jack's emotions during this dream.
• Rocky, Jack's mischievous and sketchy friend, is the Chemist. He arranged the drugs used to put everyone under for this mission.
• The final two friends in the group are the Forgers. They play themselves, Jack's parents, Ed Sheeran, Paul and Ringo, John Lennon, Deborah, and the other two fans who remember the Beatles.
• The inception is completed when Jack tells the truth to the crowd, and chooses love over fame. Ellie lets the dream continue a bit though, to let the inception sink in and take hold.

Where the other three are

Ringo Starr had a notable career with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, and influenced drumming as in our timeline (hence why rock music doesn't seem to be too heavily affected by the Beatles never existing). He was (still) notable enough to catch the attention of the woman in charge of Thomas the Tank Engine and since his voice is cute and soothing in any universe, she still begged him to be narrator. He now wanders the globe as a random hippie, often via trains, spreading Peace and Love.

Paul McCartney was briefly a famous musician in Liverpool, until his untimely death on a tragic car accident. However, there is a popular conspiracy theory believed by a fair number of his fans: Paul's Not Dead. Many believe that Paul is actually living secretly in Canada, under the false name of William Shears Campbell.

George Harrison is alive and well, thanks to a world without cigarettes. He accompanied John sailing the world, and found spiritual enlightenment in India while John "found the woman he loved." Since his musical career didn't take off, George became a religious leader instead.

• Don't forget Pete Best (the Trope Namer for The Pete Best, as we all know). Pete Best became a famous musician with The Pete Best Four, and continues touring with his group to this day.

• And finally, Brian Epstein, their manager. In this new universe, Epstein became an early gay rights activist who was instrumental in getting the UK's anti-gay laws repealed in the 1960s. He later was elected to Parliament and received a knighthood.

Jack was transported to the same universe/timeline as Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Both universes are almost identical to ours, with minor alterations, including a famously murdered celebrity instead getting a happy ending in relative obscurity.

Other discrepancies between Jack's new timeline and the one he left:

• Thomas the Tank Engine was not as internationally successful. This is because when Thomas was exported to the US to create Shining Time Station, Ringo wasn't considered famous enough to play Mr. Conductor, so the role instead went to Paul Reubens. This crashed and burned as a result of Reubens' 1991 indecent exposure arrest, which tainted the show's reputation and destroyed the entire franchise beyond repair.
  • Thus, the failed Thomas sister series TUGS was instead a huge success in this timeline and spawned mass amounts of merchandise.
• Texas is an independent nation, and the biggest cliche in Alternate History fiction is "what if Texas lost the Alamo?"
  • Instead of Texas, Massachusetts would be the home base for FUNimation and Sentai Filmworks, and Boston would be the filming location for the first RoboCop film, Barney & Friends and this universe's equivalent of Walker, Texas Ranger.
• The main character of the original Star Trek was Captain Christopher Pike, and the show pioneered women's rights with Number One, the female first officer. Spock's character was much weirder than in this timeline, though.
• Without Paul to do the theme song to Live and Let Die, the Bond franchise collapsed in the mid-1970s. The non-franchise Never Say Never Again still got made, though, albeit with a different title and George Lazenby returning as Bond. Since there was no fear of pissing Cubby Broccoli off by working for a non-EON Bond film, many of those who'd worked on the franchise in its Sixties heyday were involved in this film, most notably John Barry who did the award-winning soundtrack.
  • Adding onto that, the Daniel Craig Bond films still got made as well.
• Chuck Norris was the 45th president of the United States, while Stephen Colbert was the 46th president.
  • Alternatively, Bernie Sanders won the 2016 Democratic primaries, and won the general election with Jesse Ventura as his vice-president. He was re-elected in 2020 over Republican nominee Ted Cruz.
• Peanut-butter-and-banana sandwiches are now normal cuisine
  • ...because without the Beatles to interrupt, Elvis Presley's influence continued longer.
• The tallest building in the world is an art museum located in Croatia.
• The Titanic and the Hindenberg were both fine, but Stonehenge was obliterated by bombings in WWII, and the Apollo 13 situation didn't have a happy ending.
• Quentin Tarantino works for PBS, and maintains a very strict "no shirt, no shoes, no admittance!" rule on set.
• Barney & Friends continues to be a Long Runner in this timeline despite falling out of that status once it was "cancelled" in 2010 in our timeline. In addition, it gained the same amount of respect as Sesame Street (which is still respected hugely in this timeline) instead of suffering through a rabid hatedom during it's heyday.
• Dream Bunny (as reviewed by Brutalmoose) was a huge success and spawned a multimedia franchise.
• Blockbuster Video lives on as both a video rental store and a streaming service, while Netflix crashed & burned due to the dot com burst and was bought by Blockbuster.
• The Bigfoot team never quit Monster Jam, in addition Dennis Anderson never sold Grave Digger to Monster Jam.
• Arrested Development was a huge success, while Malcolm in the Middle only lasted 4 seasons but was revived as a Blockbuster Original Series.
• Citizen Kane was a huge failure both critically & commercially and became a So Bad, It's Good Cult Classic while The Room became the greatest film of all time.
• The first Harry Potter novel bombed despite critical praise (hence why Ellie was confused when Jack said he felt like "Harry Potter after he defeated Voldemort"), leading Redwall to become the major critical & commercial success with not just a TV series adaptation as in our timeline, but also movies, video games, merchandise & spin-offs.
• The Islamists never came out on top in the Iranian Revolution, and Iran enjoys a peaceful democracy to this day.
• The Jim Henson Company never sold the Muppets to Disney.
• Space Shuttle Challenger's launch was rescheduled due to poor weather conditions. Because it didn't blow up in this universe, Christa McAuliffe became an American hero for being the first teacher in space.
• Kaliningrad is still part of Germany as Königsberg.
• Pathfinder was targeted towards disgruntled Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition fans, instead of disgruntled 3.X edition fans.
• When Clone High came out, it was an immediate hit both critically and in the ratings, becoming MTV's most successful animated series since Beavis And Butthead. As a result, MTV decided not to close their animation department.
• Without the Beatles, Liverpudlian bands like the Merseybeats and Gerry & the Pacemakers never became famous. Nor did Cilla Black, meaning there was no Blind Date.
• All the members of Metallica survived the September 1986 bus crash. Meanwhile, Jason Newsted (known in this universe as Jace Roxx) instead replaced Nikki Sixx of Mötley Crüe, who didn't survive his heroin overdose, and was replaced by Robert Trujillo after Jason quit. Also, Vince Neil stayed fit and healthy instead of degrading into "Vince Meal", as he was the only member of the band who was a teetotaler (as a result, Razzle of Hanoi Rocks is still alive in the timeline Jack entered).
  • As a result of The Beatles not existing in the timeline Jack entered, Beatallica are instead "Backstreetallica", and mock Grunge instead of Hair Metal.
• Hair Metal was able to survive past the early 90s, while Grunge didn't stand a chance at destroying it and crawled back to the alternative radio market after Nirvana's third album flopped, causing the band to break up mid-tour and being so unsuccessful that it killed both DGC Records and Sub Pop. Instead of committing suicide, Kurt Cobain went into rehab for his addictions, took marriage counseling with Courtney Love, and then switched careers and became an acoustic folk singer.
  • Alternatively, Hair Metal survived the early 90s, but faced a fierce Fandom Rivalry with Grunge to the point of fan brawls. Kurt Cobain also didn't kill himself and instead went into therapy, but Dave Grohl left Nirvana to form the Foo Fighters, which became a factor in Nirvana breaking up in 2000.
• All the artists Piero Scaruffi likes are popular.
• The 90s boy bands and girl groups (and Menudo, New Edition and New Kids on the Block) are mostly the same in this timeline, except for *NSYNC staying reunited after their VMA reunion and Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes of TLC surviving the car crash in Honduras.
• The Rolling Stones originated the basic boy band idea instead of The Beatles (they're otherwise the same as in the timeline Jack left, other than for Bill Wyman staying).
• The British Invasion happened, but without the Beatles it wasn't as big. As a result, Brian Wilson never fired his dad, and never wrote Pet Sounds.
• Justin Bieber is an infamous grindcore artist in this timeline.
• In this timeline, Milli Vanilli's Rob & Fab actually sung on the group's songs.
• Vanessa Carlton's career was much more successful after "A Thousand Miles" in this timeline.
• Attila were much more successful and well-respected than in the timeline Jack left. Plus, Billy Joel encountered Breakup Breakout after Attila broke up, instead of Attila being an Old Shame for him.
• Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers only lasted for one 40 episode season and was so unsuccessful that it killed Saban Entertainment.
  • As a result, Turtlemania continued for another few years.
• Michael Jackson's Thriller was an Acclaimed Flop that was so unsuccessful on the charts that it killed Epic Records.
• Lady Gaga got her start in an Alternative Metal band (a la Rob Zombie getting his start in White Zombie). As a result, The Fame was a Nu Metal album, best described as "Evanescence on anti-depressants", instead of a electropop album, which in turn caused the pop/rap/EDM takeover of the early '10s to instead be a pop/rap/nu-metal takeover.
• The disco backlash ended before Disco Demolition Night could happen, as people recognized the bigoted reasons for it much quicker than in our timeline.
• The Sex Pistols' Nevermind The Bollocks Heres The Sex Pistols was such a flop that it killed Punk Rock (though Post-Punk, New Wave Music, Pop Punk and Ska Punk all still exist, but Post-Punk, Pop Punk and Ska Punk exist under different names). Without punk rock for critics to negatively compare them to, Arena Rock acts like Journey, REO Speedwagon and Toto were critically respected from the start.
  • Also, Progressive Rock continued being popular into the mid-80s since punk wasn't there to interrupt its reign in the rock world. As a result, Yes' 90125 sounded very different than in our timeline.
• Yoko Ono married Mick Jagger and (later) Paul Simon. Neither marriage lasted more than a year.
• Mystery Science Theater 3000 only lasted 1 season (not counting the KTMA season), and was so unsuccessful that it killed riff culture.
• The Simpsons ended after it's 11th season while Futurama is still running to this day.
• Firefly was a huge ratings success, lasting for 5 seasons, but most of its' fans wished that they'd stopped making it after season 1 due to the latter seasons suffering from a huge case of Seasonal Rot.
• Sky High (2005) became one of Disney's most successful franchises, even crossing over with the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
• Without the Fab Four to perform there in 1966, Nippon Budōkan never establishes itself as the go-to-concert stadium for artists and bands worldwide, and the venue is torn down to make way for a new stadium for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
  • In relation, Auri Hirao's manga would be titled If My Favorite Pop Idol Made It To Tokyo Dome I Would Die instead.
• The WWE's flagship event is called the Colossal Tussle in this universe. Meanwhile, Eric Bischoff and Fusient's attempt to save WCW worked out in the end, and thus it still exists as an separate entity in this universe.
• The Network Chart, an alternative UK Top 30 countdown broadcast on Independent Local Radio, trounced the Gallup chart (used by BBC Radio 1 and Top of the Pops) in the ratings. The British record industry transferred the official chart franchise to Network Chart compilers MRIB. This led to the network of ILR stations eclipsing Radio 1 in popularity, and all the ILR stations continued to exist in their original regional form, and were never taken over by Capital and Heart.
• Taking that a step further, Radio 1 never existed as, without the Beatles, pirate radio stations were less popular. Therefore, the government didn't bother outlawing them, and The BBC never reorganised its radio output. Radios 2, 3 and 4 survived but under their original names — respectively, the Light Programme, the Third Programme and the Home Service.
  • Alternatively, Radio 1 still exists in this timeline, as The Rolling Stones helped popularize pirate radio in place of The Beatles.
• Chuck E. Cheese's and Showbiz Pizza are still separate chains under the same ownership and with separate animatronic characters (the Pizza Time Players/Munch's Make Believe Band for CEC, The Rock-afire Explosion for Showbiz), but mostly serve different geographic areas with some overlap in several areas, a la how Checkers and Rally's operate.
• [adult swim] kept the rights to Futurama and were the ones who uncancelled it the first time instead of Comedy Central.
• The Cleveland Show was uncancelled by BET after Fox cancelled it, making it the second Seth MacFarlane show to be uncancelled (American Dad! instead was the third).
• Jem and the Holograms (2015) was much better-received and much more faithful to the original Jem mythos than in our timeline.
• Without Paul and Linda McCartney to promote it, vegetarianism was a lot less mainstream.
• Many changes would happen to the history of video games:
  • Nintendo still partnered with Philips over Sony to make the SNES-CD, but instead of the deal breaking down and the Nintendo character-based games for the CD-i being made instead, the SNES-CD still happened and saw a hugely successful release, with it's pack-in game being Super Mario CD, which was the first game with Charles Martinet voicing Mario. Hotel Mario and the CD-i Zelda games still came out in this timeline, but as Game Boy Color games, while I. M. Meen was released as a launch title for the SNES-CD.
  • Sega is still in the console scene, but holding up the rear behind the IRL trio of Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft. Their latest console is the Sega Monarch, which uses custom flash drives as media.
  • Nintendo outbid Microsoft for ownership of Rare. As a result...
    • Rare developed Donkey Kong Country Returns and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze in this universe.
    • Grabbed by the Ghoulies, Kameo: Elements of Power and Perfect Dark Zero were GameCube titles in this timeline. Adding to that, Kameo was far more successful in than our timeline, spawning a franchise that, in addition to video games, included an animesque cartoon co-produced by 4Kids Entertainment and a French studio, toys, comic books, and even a MMOPRG.
    • Viva Piñata was a launch title for the Wii.
    • Killer Instinct (2013) was released for the Wii U, and was a Killer App (no pun intended) that helped the Wii U be a bit more successful than in our timeline.
    • Sea of Thieves launched simultaneously for the Nintendo Switch and Wii U.
  • The Atari Jaguar was a bit more successful than in our timeline.
  • Ratchet: Deadlocked was such a flop that it nearly killed the Ratchet & Clank franchise, and led to Insomniac Games buying its IPs from Sony and jumping ship to the Nintendo camp. Though like in real life, it was Vindicated by History.
• The most powerful people in the U.S. Senate are Jon Stewart (D-NY), Penn Jillette (L-NV) and Tom Morello (D-CA). Meanwhile, the most powerful people in the House of Representatives are Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar (D-NY) and Rob Schneider (R-CA).
• James Rolfe retired The Angry Video Game Nerd after the movie to pursue a career as a filmmaker, becoming one of the biggest names in the horror genre. He later brought the show back for Amazon Prime Video a few years later after inking a overall deal with Amazon.

The alternate timeline, and the events of the film, were caused by Alien Space Bats

Given how it's usually recognized that the Beatles were just that influential on popular music alone that everything else would certainly not be the same without them in ways the film would not normally portray, this would have to be a sign of some intelligence manipulating the timeline. When you factor out that Coca Cola and even cigarattes apparently don't exist, even more so. It's likely the Alien Space Bats are also responsible for the main character's crossing between timelines. They just picked him out as he was a struggling singer to use as part of an experiment in "what would happen if this guy appeared to be responsible for all the Beatles' songs?".

The events of the film were caused by one of Timmy Turner's more absent-minded wishes.

This is a spin on the "In reality, this is a movie about what would happen if cigarettes didn't exist" theory. Timmy was in a health-conscious mood, and wished that cigarettes and sugary drinks would never exist. Unfortunately for Timmy, smoking was once seen as a social event and thus things created over smoking, including The Beatles and Harry Potter, stopped existing.

The Beatles genuinely never existed in this universe

Jack went insane after being hit by the bus, everything before this is false memories. He wrote all the songs himself and invented a fictional band who he thinks created them.