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Originally posted by Michael:
This would be fantastic, it could be Chris´ final breakthrough. I´am really looking forward to a Chris Young blockbuster score.

Michael

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Final breakthrough? I thought Chris has already written a breakthrough scores a long time ago.

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Originally posted by Michael:
This would be fantastic, it could be Chris´ final breakthrough. I´am really looking forward to a Chris Young blockbuster score.

Michael

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Hey I thought that was:

ENTRAPMENT...THE SHIPPING NEWS...THE CORE...

Michael<HR size=1></BLOCKQUOTE>

I thought his score for Hellraiser was his breakthrough. I don't look for breakthrough score based on how much money they make. I base them on the score.
Much like Debneys Cutthroat Island score. I consider that to be his breakthrough score. And that movie was a huge flop.

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Originally posted by Michael:
You are right , Jeff. But I think Chris always wanted to score a real blockbuster movie. Of course is Hellraiser the first score that soundtrack collectors have noticed. And Hellraiser was surely a solid effort, but it was not the project that earned him broader recognition in Hollywood!

Michael

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You have no idea what you are talking about. Stop now.

HELLRAISER made film music fans notice, but it didn't slot Chris Young into the A List of composers. He's still waiting for that movie/score.

Moreover, there simply aren't enough movies of sufficient quality to support all the composers we would like to see on the "A list." Christopher Young continues to have a varied, interesting career. He even succeeded in ending his stint as "the Bela Lugosi of film music." There aren't many composers who can overcome such pigeonholing - which, by the way, is one of the side effects of widespread recognition.

Please don't misunderstand me; I think Young is one of our greatest composers and he deserves all the accolades that can be bestowed upon him. And if he ends up scoring Spider-Man 3, I'm sure it'll be an amazing piece of work. But I don't really see it opening any doors for him that haven't been opened already. At best, some producer will hear how great his action music is and hire him for the next Clive Cussler adaptation.

And yes, that would be a great score, too. But I'm just saying that in Hollywood's current climate I'm not so sure this "A-list" really exists anymore. And if it does, it's only comprised of John Williams and everyone who used to be at Media Ventures. With Goldsmith and Bernstein gone, Jarre retired, Barry as good as retired, and Morricone pretty much done with Hollywood, the A-list isn't all that elite anymore.

Kirk
NP - Intervista (Rota/Piovani)

And you are right. The "A" list of composers is pretty small. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it only contains a handful of composers: John Williams, James Horner, Danny Elfman, and Hans Zimmer. Based on the size, scope and importance (to the studios) of their assignments. There are two other composers who are definitely cross-overs: Thomas Newman and James Newton Howard. But most other composers are often scoring critical and financial turkeys, rom-coms and trash.

I think another key component - and this is totally thinking inline with execs and not necessarily normal - is the marquee value of a name. Believe it or not, execs think about the value a name has on their project. They think about past grosses, etc. The more names they have associated with successful films, the more they believe their film will be successful. Chris Young hasn't scored a single $100 million movie to date (Trevor Rabin has - three I believe - so go figure). This isn't an indication of the quality of his music (which I love), but it certainly keeps him off the radar for those mega-assignments that would put him in WAR OF THE WORLDS, SPIDER-MAN territory.

"A-list" should reflect a group of composers consistently working on the major release pictures manufactured by the big studios. This does not include movies like War of the Worlds because of exclusivity. Chris Young nor any body else is going to score for a Steven Spielberg movie as long as John Williams is working. Why? That's an "A-list" with only one letter in the alphabet.

"A-list" should refer to those doing more than working exclusively with their pals or within a focused genre. With this in mind, Chris Young joined the A-list more than 10 years ago with Copycat. He did score Paramount's Jennifer 8, but didn't do another big studio pic for several years. By 1995, he was working on several big studio pictures... and continues today.

Aside from the obvious (Williams, Shore, Horner, Silvestri, JN Howard, etc), the A-list includes Marco Beltrami, the Media Ventures graduates, John Ottman, John Debney, others. Joining the A-list soon, if he drops the television habit, is Giacchino. Sadly, Patrick Doyle and Basil Poledouris cannot be considered A-list anymore due to lack of consistent work, a personal choice of theirs, and unless Elfman gets with it, a downgrade is coming soon!

Outside guys have it harder maintaining their class status because... they are on the outside. Composers like Morricone, Portman, Craig Armstrong, David Arnold, George Fenton, Jan A.P Kaczmarek, etc, may be "A-list" for a month, and then not at all, thanks to not being inside the Hollywood machine.

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Originally posted by rkeaveney:
The more names they have associated with successful films, the more they believe their film will be successful.

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You're right, this is an important point. I recall the story of the producer on the first Batman who insisted on John Williams over Danny Elfman because he thought having Williams do the score would secure the film's eventual blockbuster status. I don't know whether that particular story is true or not, but that sort of thing certainly happens quite frequently.

But I still contend that having such status doesn't really mean anything. Sure, you'll be able to ask for more money on future projects, but this is Chris Young - we're talking about a composer who once sacrificed part of his salary to pay for a larger string section. I'm not really interested in a composer who would pay more attention to the profile of his assignments than he would to the quality of his work.

It just seems to me that, artistically, being on the A-list would be a disadvantage, as future employers would tend to hire you mostly to do the exact same thing you did on that megablockbuster. (E.g., Rozsa getting upset that everyone kept asking him to use the theremin after Spellbound and The Lost Weekend, or Don Davis saying that since The Matrix everyone wants him for "the Matrix sound," but he doesn't think it works in most dramatic situations.) That's really the only reason I'm not keen on saying things like "I hope this will finally be such-and-such composer's breakthrough score."

Ryan sells Danny Elfman and won't let Chris Young get close. "Chris Young hasn't scored a single $100 million movie to date"... except for 6 months ago. The Grudge. More than $100,000,000 in revenue, and close to $100,000,000 in profit. Not bad. And more insanity.