I highly doubt that we'll hear any variation of either Ottman's or Kamen's X-Men theme; as we have both a new director (Brett Ratner) and new composer (John Powell) and it's a rare occasion that it happens so. I'm looking forward to what Powell has up his sleeve; whether or not he takes the movie seriously or not (notice how some of his more comical-infused scores belong to poor movies . . . or animation). I'm very much looking forward to what Michael Giacchino's gonna cook up with some Mission: Impossible. I'm hoping Ottman does Williams justice while creating his own Superman musical palette. It's good to see Zimmer on Pirates 2 and I look forward to what kind of crazy "limited action cues" album we get (bring on the Wesson baby!); and another Arnold Bond score is always cool, as long as he keeps it Madonna-free (and EON, let him be involved with the title song, for Pete's Sake!). I'm also looking forward to whatever score Michael Mann decides to give Miami Vice (go with Sean Callery or at least use some cues from his 24 material, it fits like a glove; other than that, Zimmer might be good).

There's also another trend that I've noticed which goes the opposite way: concert hall composers which bring their contemporary idiom to the movie screen resulting in a more abstract style of scoring rather than the traditional romantic narrative.

Whatever the changes in film music and soundtracks are, I guess it must be necessary much like styles of film making.

And one more thing, some if not most of the composers doing movies now are really not school educated but are just musicians that got a lucky break, I guess. We no longer have the Goldsmiths or Bernsteins. Williams is the only active with connections to the golden age but he's quickly adapting (and being better than most who have revolutionized the sounds of today). Jarre and Morricone are not composing anymore, I think. And yes, most composers are just doing generic sounds and one of the best examples of this unfortunate trend is the music from the new Batman movie.

I think movie scores are no longer attempting to provide the leit-motif style many of us admire from composers like Williams and Poledouris. And there seems to be a trend away from orchestras and toward electronics.

For 2006, I predict more ethnic wailings, Celtic rythms and acapella soprano singings.

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Originally posted by nuts_score:
I'm also looking forward to whatever score Michael Mann decides to give Miami Vice (go with Sean Callery or at least use some cues from his 24 material, it fits like a glove; other than that, Zimmer might be good).

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That's nuts, Sean Callery would be an awful choice—his music for 24 doesn't prove anything, and he seems to be unaware of the limitations of using synth-only, like when he pulls out his orchestral samples it sounds like cheap video game music. I think Hans Zimmer is a good choice for the film, but I kinda' dig the way Michael Mann just makes the soundtrack a sort of "mix tape"—and here's also hoping that Jamie Foxx doesn't sing for this movie.

There is also a trend toward mixing ambient sound into the "music" score sometimes as its own distinct musical color and sometimes uniformly blended with an ensemble of some kind.

Harry Gregson-Williams continues to experiment with this latter style a lot and is capable of redifining how electronics and synthetic sounds can be integrated in a score. It's not clear yet whether he will become entirely focused on thematic writing or on more soundscape type scores.

We can perhaps hope that the days of sequenced drum machines will be replaced with a mixture of both sequenced techno beats and acoustic percussion but I doubt that will happen.

As remakes continue to surface we may see a few fine orchestral scores pop up. It will all depend on how "retro" the films are. Out of that morass a few names will begin to surface depending on how much money a particular film makes.

Some of the post-minimalist music appears to have run its course in film with only a couple of exceptions.

2006? More of the same. The indie labels continue to dig for past classics in scrawny mono and release them as limited editions. Naxos recycles Marco Polo catalog at half the price. People born after 1980 miss out on some fantastic music.

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Originally posted by Dinko:

2006? Apple releases an iPod that plays FM radio natively, and iPod legions declare it Gadget of the Millenium, despite FM radio being a standard feature on most new audio players long before the iPod had it.

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This one will definitely happen, Dink. Good call.

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Originally posted by Camillu:
The return of the Superman theme!
The return of the X-Men theme!
The return of the Pirates of the Caribbean theme! (was there one?)
The return of the James Bond theme!
The return of the Mission:Impossible theme!
(and a sublime score by JNH for Lady in the Water)

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I don't believe X-Men had a consistent theme considering that Michael Kamen's stuff was pretty much tossed aside when Ottoman jumped in.

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Originally posted by sakman:
I think we might be returning to a time similar to the mid-1960s to 1970s. I have heard several jazz combo scores already that should be coming out this year continuing a trend heard most in "Sideways."

There is also a trend toward mixing ambient sound into the "music" score sometimes as its own distinct musical color and sometimes uniformly blended with an ensemble of some kind.

Harry Gregson-Williams continues to experiment with this latter style a lot and is capable of redifining how electronics and synthetic sounds can be integrated in a score. It's not clear yet whether he will become entirely focused on thematic writing or on more soundscape type scores.

We can perhaps hope that the days of sequenced drum machines will be replaced with a mixture of both sequenced techno beats and acoustic percussion but I doubt that will happen.

As remakes continue to surface we may see a few fine orchestral scores pop up. It will all depend on how "retro" the films are. Out of that morass a few names will begin to surface depending on how much money a particular film makes.

Some of the post-minimalist music appears to have run its course in film with only a couple of exceptions.

So I think with the increased sophistication of electronic resources we will see a few standout composers taking on the new helm. If history tells us anything, the composers hitting their mid-40s are the ones to watch right now, while those who are in their 50s and 60s codify and refine their styles.

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Originally posted by Dinko:
2006? More of the same. Forgettable, generic underscores live side-by-side with bizarre attempts at weirdness. Few (if any) of which are worth more than a blink of attention.

2006? More of the same. The indie labels continue to dig for past classics in scrawny mono and release them as limited editions. Naxos recycles Marco Polo catalog at half the price. People born after 1980 miss out on some fantastic music.

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This reads like the same kind of junk from people who claim there hasn't be any good music written since the 1960s. You seem to be living in the past, Dinko. Musically reliving your childhood, perhaps?

NP: Xzibit

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Originally posted by nuts_score:
Sean, I have yet to send you the cue I'm always mentioning. Did you get the soundtrack or something?

I believe Mann has more sense than to allow his pretentious "star" to record "In the Air Tonight" for the film (oh crap, I hope I didn't give any music supervisors any ideas).

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I watched the last season on DVD and boy-oh-boy does that show just stink of a kind of bad tv commercial for that demented Sabbath maniac, George W. Bush; and his favourite toture crazy spokesman, Allan Dershowitz ... man, do they have quite the odd fetish. Other than that, Sean Cellery's music was uneventful and could have been written for The Amazing Race (and that's not a bad thing, either), but it fails within the show as cheap midi sounding keyboards and drum loops; the score has got NOTHING on the other stellar scores for Battlestar Galactica and Stargate: Atlantis this passed year.

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Originally posted by sean:
You seem to be living in the past, Dinko. Musically reliving your childhood, perhaps?

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Your cheap stab and attempt at psychological analysis are rather poor. Even my parents weren't born when Alfred Newman wrote better scores with pen and paper in his sleep than most of today's composers with the help of 12 orchestrators, 3 conductors and a boatload of technical gadgets can. My favourite scores were written long past my childhood, and even longer before that.

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Originally posted by Dinko:

Your cheap stab and attempt at psychological analysis are rather poor. Even my parents weren't born when Alfred Newman wrote better scores with pen and paper in his sleep than most of today's composers with the help of 12 orchestrators, 3 conductors and a boatload of technical gadgets can. My favourite scores were written long past my childhood, and even longer before that.

Try again.

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HAHA! Well, I wasn't trying any of that, but so what, you like black & white movies and scores—whatever, good for you, it just sounds really pretentious the way you constantly bring that stuff up.