Hans Zimmer has been hired to score the upcoming thriller Widows. The film is directed by Steve McQueen (Shame) and stars Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki, Cynthia Erivo, Colin Farrell, Brian Tyree Henry, Daniel Kaluuya, Garret Dillahunt, Carrie Coom, Jacki Weaver, Jon Bernthal, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Robert Duvall and Liam Neeson. The movies is based on the 1983 British miniseries of the same title and follows four armed robbers who are killed in a failed heist attempt, leaving their widows to finish the job. McQueen also co-wrote the screenplay with Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl) and is producing the project with Iain Canning & Emile Sherman (Lion, Top of the Lake) and Arnon Milchan (The Revenant, Birdman, L.A. Confidential). Zimmer has previously collaborated with McQueen on the director’s last feature 12 Years a SlaveWidows is set to be released on November 16, 2018 by 20th Century Fox.

As previously reported, Zimmer’s upcoming projects also include X-Men: Dark Phoenix and Disney’s The Lion King remake.

  1. BB says:

    And who else?

    • Rob says:

      meh. at least Hans Zimmer shares credit with his ghostwriters. tons of people have come up under him. then you have TV guys like Bear McCreary doing 15 TV shows “all by himself”. nobody has ever come out of that camp. at least Zimmer is charitable

      • BB says:

        Oh, Zimmer shares the credits? So where are the credits of the composers of Man of Steel on the CD? What did they do? Who wrote the cues?

        Do you know why no one drops the dogs over Bear? Because he does not make pasteurized music!

        If only the composers coming out of that damn Remote Control barn were looking for their own identity, we would not be criticizing this guy. See John Powell, he made a wonderful score for Solo. Did you have help? Yes. But it does not remind you of Hans Zimmer.

        Is charity synonymous with making bad music now?

        • Celestial says:

          BB, full cue sheet credits are available on Hans Zimmers’ website.

          Danny Elfman used 4 ghost writers for Justice League. He didn’t list anyone any where or talked about them.

          Marco Beltrami use ghostwriters extensively and never lists them.

          James Horner never listed Simon Franglen on Titanic or Avatar’s cover.

          Virtually composer in hollywood uses ghostwriters. The only difference is, Zimmer actually credits them. You are right that a lot of his team members should stick with an original style, but that is not Zimmer’s fault.

          • ddddeeee says:

            To be fair, if you look at the cue sheets, Elfman scored the vast majority of Justice League, and the additional composers are never credited with more than 25% of a cue. Also, in the Wanted/Hellboy II/Wolfman/Real Steel booklets it’s stated where there’s music by other composers.

            I don’t follow Beltrami closely, but don’t a lot of his scores these days also give Sanders/Roberts front cover credit?

          • BB says:

            OK, let’s go

            Danny Elfman, when using additional composers, does not let them do all their work. You can feel your musical signature in everything he does. I do not agree with the use of ghost writers on any level. But unfortunately, in some cases, it seems that it is necessary.

            James Horner, I believe, never used ghost writers in his tracks (not even in 1983 when he made about seven films). Simon, as far as I know, collaborated with Horner on other activities. But he never wrote a single note (except for The Magnificent Seven).

            Marco Beltrami, most of the time, uses the same team of collaborators: Buck Sanders, Marcus Trumpp and Brandon Roberts. And he does give a lot of credit to them (on the back of the Wolverine CD he’s credited who did what) and he comes to split his scores with them. The Woman in Black II, The Hurt Locker, Little Devil, Do not be afraid of Dark, among others.

            Unlike Zimmer, Beltrami and Elfman use an X amount of additional composers, and do not gain credit for things they did not.

            I have not seen Zimmer split his credits on the score of the second Pirates of the Caribbean (where ALL score was made by nine others), which induces the person, who is not a fan of soundtracks, to think that he is a type of John Williams. Enough to be pathetic these fans raise Zimmer to the skies by things that he did not even do!

            And it’s his fault if his proteges do not have a style of their own and do not look for one because, after all, the very style of Hans Zimmer is extremely limited. He has been doing a disservice to music for movies for years! And there are people who applaud these shallow music, without soul and without personality. It is the composer’s job to give a different musical voice to the movies. And that’s not what’s happening.

            All the big blockbusters are sounding the same. And it’s the fault of Zimmer and many Hollywood producers who put their films in the hands of Lorne Balfe, Steve Jablonsky, Steve Mazzaro and Junkie XL.

          • Celestial says:

            Zimmer doesn’t let his composers do all the work either. Again, on his website, you can tell exactly who was involved in the cues. Also, how do you know Elfman doesn’t let his composer do all the work? There are reports that stated Pinar Toprak wrote the Wonder Woman track in Justice League. I can feel Zimmer’s signature on all of his scores too.

            And you don’t seemed to understand how the business works. You said that you do not agree with using ghost writers on any level but sometimes it is necessary. Nearly EVERY composer in hollywood uses ghostwriters. This has been confirmed by Southhall and Jonathan Broxton, two of the most knowledgeable film music critics out there. James Horner uses ghostwriters. Even if they don’t want to, they have to. The reason is because it is nearly impossible for your post-production schedule to always match the film’s post-production schedule.

            And Zimmer gives far more credit to his co-composers than Beltrami. Just go to their respective websites. Zimmer’s team isn’t even “ghostwriters” because he actually listed out who they are.

            As for Zimmer’s style being limited. The opposite. Zimmer has scored epics like Gladiator, King Arthur, The Lion King, and The Last Samurai. he He scored comedies like Spanglish and The Holiday and as good as it gets. He score minimalistic scores like Interstellar and Dunkirk. Zimmer has done great work across multiple genres.

            Again, it is not his fault his proteges can’t do better.

    • Lucas says:

      Good one.

  2. Bernd-Helmut Heine says:

    Wasn´t Thomas Newman originally attached to this project?

  3. Andreas says:

    I hope for a change Zimmer does this score without any other writers. if he does need help then he should get back with Balfe

  4. Tom says:

    Bring Balfe back.

    THey are a great team

  5. Roger says:

    I swear this BB guy must be a Remote Control dropout or something.