Hans Zimmer will score "Superman"

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by JacksonArcher, Dec 1, 2010.

  1. JacksonArcher

    JacksonArcher Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Hans Zimmer, maestro behind such scores as The Thin Red Line, The Last Samurai and the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, confirmed to Ann Thompson of Variety that he will indeed provide the score for the new Superman reboot that will be produced by Christopher Nolan and directed by Zack Snyder.

    Zimmer is an oft-collaborator of Nolan, having composed the scores for his last three films (Batman Begins and The Dark Knight with James Newton-Howard; Inception by himself) and will likely juggle scoring gigs with Nolan's last Batman film, entitled The Dark Knight Rises.

    Both films come out 2012 (TDKR comes out July 2012, and the Superman film comes out Winter 2012) so it looks like Zimmer will be a busy man.

    http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=72037
     
  2. Captaindemotion

    Captaindemotion Admiral Admiral

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    Not really a surprise. I'm kinda meh on Zimmer. I do like his Gladiator score but everything else he's done since is very same-y.
     
  3. JacksonArcher

    JacksonArcher Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Zimmer is a better choice than Tyler Bates, a Zack Snyder regular who does some pretty mediocre scores.
     
  4. Captaindemotion

    Captaindemotion Admiral Admiral

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    ^ True. I don't remember any of the music from Snyder scores, apart from the classic rock used in Watchmen. I can at least hum some of Zimmer's scores.
     
  5. Samurai8472

    Samurai8472 Admiral Admiral

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    The score might be pretty bass heavy if "Inception" or "The Dark Knight" are any indication.
     
  6. Aragorn

    Aragorn Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I like Hans Zimmer.

    [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3rgXsD4dko[/yt]

    [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5uYB9T_GlY[/yt]

    [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8Xk38J0cYo[/yt]

    [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG9-j3eevL4[/yt]

    [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKZkIt0QRoM[/yt]

    [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBTIoL5vaOM[/yt]
     
  7. Greylock Crescent

    Greylock Crescent Adventurer Admiral

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    My first reaction to the news is to laugh. My second is to get excited. Hopefully he'll craft something that doesn't sound the same as everything else he's done.
     
  8. tharpdevenport

    tharpdevenport Admiral Admiral

    My first reaction: third nail in the coffin, skipper of a movie.
     
  9. Frontier

    Frontier Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Well, that does settle that the Superman theme will not return.
     
  10. Admiral_Young

    Admiral_Young Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I think this is awesome news and as we discussed in the other thread about the Superman theme not returning, I think it is only a good thing. This film needs to separate it's self from the Donner Verse...and who the hell knows, maybe people will actually LIKE what Zimmer composes. Oh the shock of that....
     
  11. Admiral Buzzkill

    Admiral Buzzkill Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Wonder when something about this movie will be interesting.
     
  12. Admiral_Young

    Admiral_Young Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Probably not until after Zack is finished with his "Sucker Punch" responsibilities.
     
  13. Canadave

    Canadave Vice Admiral Admiral

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    As I said in the other Superman scoring thread, I really would have liked to have seen Michael Giancchino get a crack at Superman. I feel his style would have really suited the character. Alas, 'tis not to be...
     
  14. Greylock Crescent

    Greylock Crescent Adventurer Admiral

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    Actually, I'm glad it's not Giacchino. I just don't get what others see in his work.
     
  15. Harvey

    Harvey Admiral Admiral

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    Well, don't forget THE PRESTIGE, which came between BATMAN BEGINS and THE DARK KNIGHT, and was handled by Nolan's other frequent collaborator, David Julyan (a shame he hasn't been getting more work).

    And yet none of the clips you've selected come from the composers work in the 2000s. Was that deliberate or am I reading too much into it?

    ...

    I can't say I'm excited about this news, personally. Zimmer is as bad as James Horner when it comes to self-plagiarizing, and lately hasn't been all that interesting as a composer.
     
  16. Aragorn

    Aragorn Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    You're reading too much into it. I didn't want to spend too much time finding YouTube clips only to have embedding disabled.

    And with that I'm done with this thread.
     
  17. Starbreaker

    Starbreaker Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    He has a hard time coming up with catchy tunes. Oh well.
     
  18. Greylock Crescent

    Greylock Crescent Adventurer Admiral

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    Eh? Plenty of people find his tunes catchy (POTC anyone?). The problem is that he's all-too-often cannibalized his old music for new films maing many of his scores sound essentially the same. But he has tried branching out a bit of late -- Sherlock Holmes was more-or-less an intriguing departure. Inception has gotten a bit of praise (though, personally, I don't like it). Using Zimmer for something as iconic as Superman is, IMO, high-risk/high-reward. The result could be something that's powerful and fun. Or it could be more of the same. There's no way of knowing, really, until it's done.
     
  19. 23skidoo

    23skidoo Admiral Admiral

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    There was a thread bemoaning the loss of the John Williams score (assuming that happens - Williams' score for the Harry Potter films has been retained despite all the different composers in the later films). But I seem to have misplaced it.

    I for one am all for the idea of bringing in a new composer for Superman. I was one of the 24 people who liked Superman Returns, but while it was a thrill to see the updated version of the Williams score, I thought it was a mistake because it immediately reminded everyone of Christopher Reeve, which deep-sixed Brandon Routh from the get-go. Yeah, yeah - James Bond Theme, Doctor Who Theme, Star Wars Theme - but for whatever reasons the Williams theme for Superman is not associated with multiple actors over the history of a franchise, but with one actor. And it just didn't feel right for it to be used in the Singer film.

    Whether it's Hans Zimmer or whomever, it doesn't really matter in the end. The James Bond films are really the only films of this particular type that even bother with opening credits anymore, so really all Zimmer needs to do is come up with some catchy plink-plonk to go with the flying sequences, and maybe some semi-sappy love theme for Lois and Clark, and then some generic filler music for the end credits to play while everyone files out. (Boy am I sounding cynical today or what! Part of it is due to my annoyance over being forced by crowds to exit Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows within 20 seconds of the end music starting, when I would have preferred to hang about and listen to it.)

    Alex
     
  20. Greylock Crescent

    Greylock Crescent Adventurer Admiral

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    ^ The end music of Deathly Hallows is just tracked music from elsewhere in the score and isn't a classic "End Credits" suite. So if you've got the soundtrack, you've got all the music you would have heard during the credits. As for Williams' themes in Potter 4-7.1 ... well, outside of Goblet, you barely hear any of his work (other than the occasional use of "Hedwig's Theme"). Desplat's Deathly Hallow's score makes only minimal use of "Hedwig's Theme" and is, by and large, new material.

    As for Superman, I was one of the first in line to see the new Superman Returns once I heard that Ottman was going to use Williams' classic Supes themes. But I was underwhelmed by Ottman's usage of the themes and, like you said, they really didn't help the film establish an identity of its own (though, the score was the least of the film's problems, IMO).

    So as much as I would love to hear The Superman March in the theater again, I'm good with a new approach.