Top-10 Most Anticipated Scores of 2009

Upcoming Film Scores lists the ten most exciting, promising and anticipated film scores of 2009, according to its editor Mikael Carlsson who can't wait to hear what will come out musically of these projects:

1. AVATAR (James Horner)
Director James Cameron and composer James Horner are of course best known for the multi-zillion-whatever-megahit Titanic, but they also gave us Aliens in 1986 which stands out as one of the most exciting nailbiter scores in sci-fi history. On that film, Cameron gave Horner a pretty hard time as judging from the composer interview on the special edition DVD, and basically what you hear in the film is the result of a composer writing under enormous pressure. On Avatar, the situation is the complete opposite. A luxury in film scoring today, the total time given to the scoring process on this film will probably exceed one year! Horner is currently working exclusively on this film, with first bout of scoring possibly to take place in spring. Horner is working with his close team of collaborators on Avatar: music editor Jim Henrikson, engineer Simon Rhodes and programmer Aaron Martin are already involved. What to expect in terms of the music is difficult to pin down: the film is said to be totally unique, so will the score be that too? How will the composer portray the otherwordly humanoid culture said to be a cornerstone of the story? Are we going to hear a full-blown symphonic score, or will Horner find alternate ways to depict other worlds? Will we hear those rousing brass triplets and thundering percussion from "Bishop's Countdown" accompanying the battle for survival in Avatar? Many questions and we will have to wait almost a year before we get the answers: the film opens on December 18, released by 20th Century Fox.

2. STAR TREK (Michael Giacchino)
The new Star Trek movie by J.J. Abrams is relaunching the classic sci-fi series and Abrams' composer-in-residence, Michael Giacchino, follows in the giant footsteps of composers such as Jerry Goldsmith and James Horner when he enters the USS Enterprise. Giacchino's TV music for Abrams' Lost is intensely effective, and his straight-forward action writing in Mission: Impossible 3 added a lot of energy to a film where the only question was if that extra adrenaline boost really was needed. In Star Trek, the most interesting aspect of the score is going to be whether or not Giacchino picks up the nobility and grandeur of the classic Goldsmith scores, or if he is going to do something completely unexpected (anything that doesn't sound like a "real" Star Trek score will undoubtedly have a hard time with the Trekkies). Film opens in May and most likely to the sound of Alexander Courage's classic fanfare (anything else would be sensational and, of course, disappointing).

3. THE SOLOIST (Dario Marianelli)
The collaboration between director Joe Wright and composer Dario Marianelli has already given us two gorgeous scores: Pride and Prejudice and Atonement, and the composer one Oscar. As their new film presents a story where music actually has a prominent role, The Soloist certainly is something to look forward too and most likely one of the main events in film music 2009. Marianelli's composing style, beautifully rooted in melody and always orchestrated with great sophistication and grace, should lend itself perfectly to the story about a journalist (Robert Downey Jr) who befriends a classically trained musician (Jamie Foxx) who lives his life on the streets of Los Angeles. Score was recorded in L.A. with Benjamin Wallfisch conducting.

4. THE WOLF MAN (Danny Elfman)
When Universal decided to remake the studio's 1941 monster classic, with Joe Johnston helming the project, there were many options as to who the composer would be. Johnston has worked extensively with James Horner and also with Don Davis and James Newton Howard - all of them capable of penning a solid monster score, no doubt about it. But the composer chosen is Danny Elfman, and it's a very inspired choice. Throughout his career, Elfman himself has shown such a passion for evil creatures, and particularly those who are misunderstood. His motif-driven writing and busy orchestrations will perfectly underscore the horror and excitement of the story, while his old-fashioned romantic and knack for sentimental harmony will capture the sadness of the story. This is a dream project for Elfman!

5. CREATION (Christopher Young)
Of course, a major horror film score such as Drag Me to Hell (Young's new project with Spider-Man helmer Sam Raimi) is always something to look forward too, but when I look at the list of upcoming Christopher Young scores it is Creation, his fifth project with director Jon Amiel. This is an unusual opportunity for the composer who is otherwise best known for his huge bombast of darkness in Hellraiser, Spider-Man 3 and Amiel's previous film, The Core: Creation is a biopic, a drama and, not to forget, a period piece about Charles Darwin. Whenever Young has been allowed to stretch his musical voice into more character (as opposed to spectacle) driven stories, the result has been highly interesting - his beautiful score for Murder in the First being the prime example. With a confident director who trusts Young's musical instincts, Creation can - if the film itself is good enough - very much be the composer's first real chance to flirt with Oscar!

6. BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT (David Shire)
David Fincher's stroke of genius, to bring back David Shire to A-list film scoring on Zodiac, is now followed by veteran director Peter Hyams' thriller Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, a remake of the 1956 film noir by Fritz Lang. Shire's approach to film scoring is rooted in the 1970s, which means less is more - refreshingly, quite the opposite of mainstream film music aesthetics of the new millennium. Shire brings his unique voice (often blending jazz elements with sinister string writing) to this mystery thriller and with his classic scores for The Conversation and All the President's Men, Beyond a Reasonable Doubt has the potential to be the dark horse of film music 2009. Another reason for my high expectations is that Peter Hyams always have great trust in the music; many great action scores have been composed under his direction (Jerry Goldsmith's Capricorn One and Bruce Broughton's Narrow Margin to name a couple).

7. THE LOVELY BONES (Brian Eno)
Clearly the most surprising scoring assignment of 2008 (just another Upcoming Film Scores scoop!), the attachment of legendary record producer and ambient electronica artist Brian Eno to Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones is so interesting in itself that it simply has to be included on this list. Most people were, of course, expecting Howard Shore or James Newton Howard - but folks, this is not Lord of the Rings and it is not King Kong. This film goes back to Jackson's other side of his storytelling, the Heavenly Creatures one, and although Shore and Howard probably would have penned great scores for The Lovely Bones, having an artist such as Brian Eno doing the music for it will, without any doubt, result in a unique accompaniment to Alice Sebold's original story. It is a brave choice of composer and one of the most interesting film scoring assignments in recent years.

8. G.I. JOE: RISE OF COBRA (Alan Silvestri)
Everyone loves a good Silvestri action score. What will the composer of Predator, Back to the Future and Judge Dredd bring to the table of G.I. Joe, Stephen Sommers' big budget spectacle starring Brendan Fraser and Dennis Quaid? Well if you look at the previous collaborations between Sommers and Silvestri, The Mummy Returns and Van Helsing, I'm sure we can expect an adequate amount of adrenaline-pumping orchestral music - the big question is whether or not the approach will be an old-fashioned one, or if the music will be tailored more towards the film's target audience. It has to be said: G.I. Joe looks like a film any Remote Control composer would score on autopilot with studio execs applauding a "modern sound that will speak to the young audiences." I for one hope that the studio will allow Alan Silvestri to do his thing - if he is allowed that creative freedom, G.I. Joe is going to be a very exciting score.

9. PUBLIC ENEMIES (Elliot Goldenthal)
A new score by Elliot Goldenthal is always of highest interest. The composer who won an Oscar for Frida but made his most important contributions to film music with his ferociously orchestrated scores for Alien 3 and Interview With the Vampire, previously worked with Public Enemies director Michael Mann on Heat and that resulted in an intense and highly unusual score that worked very well on screen and on CD together with some hand-picked tracks by the director. Public Enemies is also a crime drama, but the big difference is that this is a period piece taking place in 1930s - a gangster epic. Goldenthal has proven before that he is an expert when it comes to mix various styles with his own strikingly original orchestral writing, perhaps we can expect a jazz flavor in Public Enemies. That said, Michael Mann seldom favors scoring approaches that are too obvious and most of his films feature a pretty eclectic collection of score, source tracks and songs. Film opens on July 1.

10. DAYBREAKERS (Christopher Gordon)
Aussie composer Christopher Gordon, one of the finest orchestral writers in the business, has done the music vampire film which takes place in the year 2017, when a plague has transformed most people into blood-sucking monsters. Perhaps not the most unusual of stories, but I'm sure it has given Gordon the ability to pen an absolutely marvellous orchestral score. On the TV show Salem's Lot, he delivered a stunning orchestral score which showcased an inventive composer who pays a lot of attention to detail. Although Gordon wrote the music for Peter Weir's Master and Commander five years ago (together with Iva Davies and Richard Tognetti), Daybreakers should be the feature that finally establishes him as a major composer to watch.

The Runners-Up:
Book of Blood (Guy Farley), Brothers (Thomas Newman), Knowing (Marco Beltrami), Land of the Lost (Michael Giacchino), Lesbian Vampire Killers (Debbie Wiseman), Monsters vs. Aliens (Henry Jackman), The Secret of Moonacre (Christian Henson), The Tree of Life (Alexandre Desplat), Up (Michael Giacchino), X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Harry Gregson-Williams).

Also worth keeping an eye (ear) on:
Afterwards (Alexandre Desplat), Agent Crush (Michael Price/David Arnold), Angels and Demons (Hans Zimmer), Blood: The Last Vampire (Marcus Trumpp), Broken Embraces (Alberto Iglesias), A Christmas Carol (Alan Silvestri), Coraline (Bruno Coulais), Dragonball: Evolution (Brian Tyler), Effie Briest (Johan Söderqvist), Franklyn (Joby Talbot), Giallo (Marco Werba), Hachiko - A Dog's Story (Jan A.P. Kaczmarek), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Nicholas Hooper), I Sell the Dead (Jeff Grace), Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (John Powell), The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (Jeff and Mychael Danna), Jennifer's Body (Theodore Shapiro), Knife Edge (Guy Farley), No-Do (Alfons Conde), The Princess and the Frog (Randy Newman), Shanghai (Alex Heffes), The Taking of Pelham 123 (Harry Gregson-Williams), Terra (Abel Korzeniowski), They Came from Upstairs (John Debney), Transformers 2 - Revenge of the Fallen (Steve Jablonsky), The Young Victoria (Ilan Eshkeri).