Upcoming Film Scores for 2009

I can’t believe it.  June is almost over and summer is already here.  I know everyone says the “year is going by so fast,” but it really has.  Not cool.

It’s okay.  There have been a number of great film scores so far.  My favorites have been Michael Giacchino’s Up, Star Trek, and Land of the Lost (I thought it was fun).  Danny Elfman’s Terminator Salvation, Hans Zimmer’s Angels and Demons, Bruno Coulais’ Coraline, and Alexandre Desplat’s Cheri.

So, what about the rest of 2009?  Well, I’ve done some digging, and I found there a number of upcoming film scores I’ll be keeping an eye/ear out.  And being a film score enthusiast, it’s no surprise I ended up with a rather large list.

A couple of notable film scores released this week includes, John Powell’s second Ice Age score, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and Elliot Goldenthal’s score for Michael Mann’s Public Enemies.

July, however, is another exciting month. I’ve been looking forward to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince for a long time.  The release date getting pushed back twice didn’t help much.  The score is by the notable British composer, Nicholas Hooper.  This will be Hooper’s second score for the Harry Potter series, the first, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which was a nice score and I thought he did well, considering the big shoes he had to fill.
Half-Blood Prince is my favorite book of the series, so I’m really looking forward to this movie and Hooper’s music.

Some other film scores in July I thought were worth noting are John Ottman’s score (X2: X-Men United, Fantastic Four) for the horror film, Orphan, and John Debney’s (The Passion of the Christ) score for the family film, Aliens in the Attic.

August brings yet another toy franchise on the big screen.  G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra will have an original score from acclaimed composer, Alan Silvestri, most notably known for his work with Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future, Forrest Gump, Cast Away, The Polar Express, Beowulf).  His scores are always great, I’m sure G.I. Joe won’t be an exception.

Julie & Julia is another film I’ve been so excited about.  I love Meryl Streep, and what’s more exciting than Streep tackling a Julia Child accent?  Well maybe a score by Alexandre Desplat.  I’m a big fan of his music, and I’m thrilled to find more and more directors are turning to Desplat to score their films.  I think this score will be interesting.  I’m not sure about a comedy score from Desplat, though I could be wrong about the comedy thing.

Also in August, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, another animation film from Hayao Miyazaki, will have another score from Joe Hisaishi.  I’m looking forward to another Danny Elfman score, this time for Ang Lee’s Taking Woodstock.  Now that is an interesting combination.  Mark Isham (Crash, A River Runs Through It) will provide the score for the upcoming comedy, My One and Only.  And Mychael Danna’s (Little Miss Sunshine, Girl, Interrupted) next score will be for the film adaptation of the popular novel, The Time Traveler’s Wife.

Some film scores to look forward to in September include the animated film 9, music composed by Deborah Lurie with themes from Danny Elfman.  The mystery thriller, Shanghai will have an original score from Alex Heffes (State of Play, The Last King of Scotland).  The fantasy film, Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus will have a score from Jeff and Mychael Danna. And the French film, Coco avant Chanel, will get a U.S. release in September, with a score by Alexandre Desplat.  His fourth score this year.

October will bring two film scores from Carter Burwell (Twilight, Burn After Reading); A Serious Man, directed by Joel and Ethan Cohen and Where the Wild Things Are directed by Spike Jonze.  Burwell will team up with Karen Orzolek for Where the Wild Things Are.

Academy Award winner Gabriel Yared (The English Patient, Cold Mountain) will provide the score to the highly anticipated biopic, Amelia.  Definitely an exciting project, Yared seems to be the perfect fit for this film.

Some other interesting projects in October include a score from last year’s Academy Award winner for Best Original Music Score, A.R. Rahman, for the comedy film, Couples Retreat.  Also, the animated film, Astro Boy, will have a score from John Ottman.

And the films just keep on coming.  In November Danny Elfman will be at it again with his score to the remake, The Wolfman.  Alan Silvestri will team up with Robert Zemeckis again for the performance capture animated film, A Christmas Carol.  Also in November, Ninja Assassin will get a score from the up and coming English composer, Ilan Eskeri (Stardust, Layer Cake).  And since apparently Alexandre Desplat isn’t slowing down, two scores by the composer will be released in November.  The highly anticipated second installment of the Twilight series, New Moon and stop motion animated film, Fantastic Mr. Fox, based on the children’s book by Roald Dahl.

Pedro Almodóvar’s film, Los Abrazos Rotos, gets a U.S. release in November and that means a score from Alberto Iglesias.  I can’t wait.  I love Iglesias’ scores.  This will be his latest score after the Steven Soderbergh epic, Che.

And with that, there are still plenty of other great films.  In December, Thomas Newman (Wall-E, Revolutionary Road) will provide the score for the war drama, Brothers.  Two scores from the Academy Award winner, Dario Marianelli are released in December; the remake of an Italian film, Everybody’s Fine and a historical drama, Agora.

An unusual project, Brian Eno will score Peter Jackson’s adaptation to the popular novel, The Lovely Bones.  Brian Eno is known for his ambient electronic sounds.  I Can’t wait, it’s going to be an interesting score.

The long awaited science fiction film, Avatar, will be released in December.  This will be the latest collaboration of director James Cameron and composer James Horner since their huge hit, Titanic back in 1997.  Everyone is excited for this film.  And so am I, after Aliens and Titanic, I wonder what Horner has in store.

I can’t leave out Disney’s next animated feature, The Princess and the Frog.  Award winning composer, Randy Newman continues his collaborations with Disney and will score the film.

Lastly, we have Hans Zimmer and his score for Guy Ritchie’s, Sherlock Holmes.  This says a lot about the film.  With a Hans Zimmer score, I expect Sherlock Holmes is in for quite an adventure.

There are plenty of other films, but I’m not sure of the exact release date.  Possible 2009 scores to look for: Kick-Ass (Ilan Eshkeri), Green Zone (John Powell), Repossession Mambo (Marco Beltrami), and The Tempest (Elliot Goldenthal).

Not too bad.  It looks like another great year of film scores.