Michael Giacchino confirmed at tonight’s Settling the Score concert at Royal Albert Hall in London that he will be scoring the upcoming superhero movie The Batman. The film is directed by Matt Reeves and stars Robert Pattinson in the title role, Paul Dano as the Riddler, Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman and Jeffrey Wright as Commissioner Gordon. Dylan Clark (Oblivion, Bird Box) is producing the project. Giacchino has previously collaborated with Reeves on his last four features Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, War for the Planet of the Apes, Cloverfield and Let Me In. The Batman is set to be released on June 25, 2021 by Warner Bros. Pictures.

Giacchino’s recent projects also include Taika Waititi’s Jojo Rabbit, which is opening in select theaters this weekend. He also has the animated feature Extinct (co-scored with Mick Giacchino) and the comedy An American Pickle (co-scored with Nami Melumad) coming up.

  1. Justin says:

    Actually, what happened, as pointed out in an FSM thread, Matt Reeves got down and “proposed” to Giacchino, asking him to score the film and Giacchino said yes, so it’s nothing like anything has been signed yet.

  2. Penderghast says:

    Ruined the Planet of the Apes sequels, will ruin Batman now. Why do they keep giving serious, dark material to his whimsy-loving ass is beyond me.

    • critch says:

      “Serious, dark material” Planet of the Apes sequels and comic book movies are not serious or dark. The best known Batman themes are the 60’s show and Danny Elfman.

      His themes for Caesar were fantastic and I can’t wait to hear his Batman, considering how good his Doctor Strange/Incredibles/Spider-Man scores are.

    • Batboy says:

      Sorry, but that’s nonsense. Giacchino very likely is the best Hollywood has to offer at the moment regarding blockbusters. Sure, I’d like to hear Nicholas Birtell score a Batman film… and surely never ever HZ again please (I almost wrote he ruined film music as it is…).
      The Planet of the Apes sequels ruined pretty much themselves with soso CGI and not very good scripts.

      • Penderghast says:

        He is so far from “the very best” that I don’t even know where to begin. If we stay with the Apes series as an example, even Patrick Doyle’s score for the first one was lightyears ahead of Giacchino’s efforts. Really overlooked composer, by the way, that Doyle. I adore his orchestral writing and he should be the number two choice for the Avatar sequels after Ramin Djawadi, but I digress.
        Best Batman theme is the one Zimmer composed for Nolan’s trilogy, in my opinion. His theme for BvS sucks, but even people blinded by hate for the man can’t argue what a great fit the theme and the score overall was for the three Dark Knight movies (well, they can and they will, but you catch my drift). For me, no Batman theme could touch it before or since. The subtle electronic elements representing the flapping of a bat’s wings combined with a more traditional heroic theme were honestly brilliant.
        I don’t know, I’ve never really liked Giacchino, and believe me, I tried. For sure he did several cues that I return to pretty regularly (I like his themes for Doctor Strange or the Rogue One’s Empire, for example), but overall he fails to captivate me with his scores overall. Plus the track titles on his CDs make me want to punch him in the face every single time – the word play isn’t endearing or entertaining; it’s childish and cringe-worthy. I suspect that on the future Batman soundtrack we can expect titles such as “Batological liar”, “Batmobilisation” or “That Butler Ain’t Two Pennies Worth”.

        • Ds says:

          Indeed you have a point about Giacchino. Regarding the Apes trilogy, Doyle’s score was indeed and by far the best of the lot, and Giacchino’s score for the 2nd movie was immensely bland. But I find the 3rd one excellent, thematic, beautiful and powerful. So hopefully Matt Reeves pushes for this kind of bold approach, rather than the inconsequent underscore of the 2nd Apes film, or the generic, by-the-numbers music Giacchino made for pretty much all his blockbusters so far (Apes 3 & Jupiter Ascending set aside).

        • Batboy says:

          Well, if you mention Ramon Djawadi I know where you are coming from… Oh I do like Patrick Doyle and I loved to talke with him, he’s a very funny and highly intelligent man. But he is miles away from his time of Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing or Un femme française.
          Best Batman theme by HZ? If you’re really serious about this I imagine you are either quite young and/or haven’t really heard Elfman’s great work. Do I hate HZ? No, I don’t hate anybody but I’ve seen what he’s done to film music, which still hampers a lot of film music productions and films. Yes, I think his Interstellar is a fine work but at the same time I always felt PotC was so wrong. But hey, that’s just me listening to film music for 40 years.

          • Penderghast says:

            Well, you are set in your ways and that’s fine, I guess. But the time you listened to film music honestly doesn’t amount to much (even if it really is 40 years), since you haven’t brought up a single argument as to what had Zimmer “done” to film music. I for one think that he made it stand out, made it more exciting. He created a new “school” of film scoring, fair and square. You may dislike it, but you can’t argue that it is as relevant as John Williams’ approach (if you allow me such generalisation in terminology) and it is here to stay.
            I fully admit that I love Djawadi, Zimmer, McCreary, Jablonsky or Powell FAR more than I ever liked Williams, Morricone, Herrman or whoever. And the good thing is, their approach is so incomparable with the older guard that you can’t realistically accuse me of having a somewhat “inferior” taste.

          • Barry says:

            @Batboy I Respect your 40 Years listening, Just Think about what you saying about HZ! “Interstellar is fine work!!” (i Believe its great great, not just me, over 99% of peaple who listened to that, loved it)
            many composers love what HZ doing, and they admit that
            Why you saying that man? i hope one day you change your mind

          • BB says:

            Those who enjoy pasteurized and reused scores have no clue to appreciate the original work that Giacchino does.

          • Penderghast says:

            BooBoo has spoken, peasants rejoice!

        • BB says:

          For someone who thinks that Zimmer (and his minions) composed the “best Batman theme”, yes, let them rejoice. Alias, “theme” copied from Black Rain.

  3. This is dumb. Giacchino is the most overrated composer in the film industry right now. Ill give him a chance to bring his best, but im honestly not expecting much besides generic, boring, and random pieces.

  4. Barry says:

    Michael Giacchino is one of the Best, I Love Him, But For Batman Movie……. I’m Not Sure

  5. Tony says:

    I love Michael Giacchino so much! Matt Reeves is a great Director with Michael Giacchino. Those two make a great team. Michael Giacchino did great on Dawn and War of the Planet of the Apes. I know Michael Giacchino will be great with the Batman.

  6. Brent says:

    This was expected, if you follow Matt Reeves directing filmography as Giacchino has been his composer every time, and quite refreshing as Giacchino is one of the best composers writing film music as of late. I can’t wait to hear what he’ll write for The Batman theme and wonder if it’ll sound experimental and unique like his Ape scores for Reeves. Let Me In was really good too. It’s interesting that both Elfman & Zimmer first wrote music for Batman and then Spider-Man and Giacchino will do the reverse.