Three new movies are opening in wide release this weekend:
Expected to top the weekend box office is the animated feature The Lego Movie directed by Phil Lord & Chris Miller and featuring the voices of Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Liam Neeson, Alison Brie, Nick Offerman, Charlie Day and Morgan Freeman. Mark Mothersbaugh who previously scored Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and 21 Jump Street for the directors has composed the film’s original music. WaterTower Music has released a soundtrack album featuring the composer’s score, as well as the original song Everything Is AWESOME!!! by Tegan and Sara featuring The Lonely Island. To check out the full album details, visit our previous news article and click here to listen to audio clips from the soundtrack.
Also opening wide is the historical drama The Monuments Men directed by George Clooney who also stars in the film alongside Matt Damon, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, Hugh Bonneville and John Goodman. Alexandre Desplat (The King’s Speech, Argo, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) has composed the film’s original music and also has a cameo appearance in the movie. Sony Masterworks has released a soundtrack album featuring the composer’s score earlier this week. To listen to audio clips and for more information about the album and the film, check out our soundtrack announcement.
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has announced today that Pharrell Williams will be performing his original song Happy from the animated hit film Despicable Me 2 at this year’s Oscars show, which will air on March 2. Williams is nominated for the first time in the Best Original Song category. The other nominated songs include Ordinary Love from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, Let It Go from Frozen and The Moon Song from Her. Despicable Me 2 is also nominated in the Best Animated Feature category. The soundtrack for the film, which also includes more songs by Pharrell and the score by Heitor Pereira is 
Audio clips from the soundtrack album for the action adventure epic 300: Rise of an Empire have been published. The film’s music is composed by Junkie XL (Divergent, Paranoia, Mad Max: Fury Road). Check out preview clips from all tracks on the album after the jump and check out 
Composer Christophe Beck and songwriters Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez were honored with an Annie Award in the Outstanding Achievement, Music in an Animated Feature Production category for the score and songs from Disney’s hit animated film Frozen. Beck accepted the award in person at the ceremony at UCLA’s Royce Hall in Los Angeles. The other contenders in the category were Alan Silvestri for The Croods, Henry Jackman for Turbo, Mark Mothersbaugh for Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2, Heitor Pereira & Pharrell Williams for Despicable Me 2, Danny Elfman for Epic, Randy Newman for Monsters University and Dominic Lewis for Free Birds. 
On Thursday, composer Bruce Broughton sent out the following email to Academy spokesperson Teni Melidonian and CEO Dawn Hudson (and cc to Academy president Cheryl Boone Issacs) regarding the 
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) has issued a statement regarding the 
Opening in most theaters is the romantic comedy That Awkward Moment written and directed by Tom Gormican and starring Zac Efron, Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Imogen Poots, Mackenzie Davis and Jessica Lucas. David Torn (Lars and the Real Girl, The Wackness) has composed the film’s original score. Varese Sarabande has released a soundtrack album featuring the composer’s score, as well as the songs from the movie by artists including Crozet, Night Drive, Black Apples, Strange Talk and Lavender Diamond. Check out 
Also opening wide following an Academy Awards-qualifying limited run in December is the drama Labor Day directed by Jason Reitman and starring Kate Winslet, Josh Brolin, Gattlin Griffith, Clark Gregg and Tobey Maguire. Rolfe Kent (Sideways, Mean Girls, Election) who previously scored the Reitman’s features Thank You for Smoking, Up in the Air and Young Adult has composed the film’s original music. Warner Bros. Records has released a soundtrack album featuring the composer’s score, as well as the songs featured in the drama. Check out 
In 2012, 
On Tuesday night, the Academy’s Board of Governors voted to rescind the Original Song nomination for 
John Cacavas has passed away at age 83. The composer has scored numerous TV shows/movies and feature films throughout his career, including episodes of such classic shows as Colombo, Kojak, Hawaii Five-O, Murder, She Wrote, The Bionic Woman, Matlock, Quincy and The Equalizer. He was honored with two Emmy nominations for an episode of Kojak in 1976, as well as an episode of Eischied in 1979. His best known feature credits include two films in the Airport series: Airport 1975 starring Charlton Heston and Airport ’77 starring Jack Lemmon & James Stewart, as well as the 1972 horror film Horror Express starring Christopher Lee & Peter Cushing. Cacavas was also active as a guest conductor and has appeared with the London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Orchestra of London, The Atlanta Symphony and Radio City Music Hall Orchestra among other orchestras.