Two new movies open wide this weekend:

The comic book adaptation The Green Hornet is directed by Michel Gondry and stars Seth Rogen, Jay Chou, Christoph Waltz and Cameron Diaz. The film’s score is composed by James Newton Howard. While no soundtrack release has been announced, an album is reportedly in the works. In the movie, Britt Reid, heir to his father’s large company, teams up with his late dad’s assistant Kato to become a masked crime fighting team. Visit the official movie webpage to watch trailers and learn more about the film. Also check out an interview with James Newton Howard on Spectrasonics where he talks about the synthesized instruments and sounds he used to create the score and his collaboration with director Michel Gondry. Read the rest of this entry »

According to the film’s teaser trailer, Marco Beltrami is writing the music for the family sports drama Soul Surfer. The movie is directed by Sean McNamara (Raise Your Voice, Bratz) and stars AnnaSophia Robb, Dennis Quaid, Helen Hunt, Craig T. Nelson and Carrie Underwood. In the film, a young, teenage surfer girl summons the courage to go back into the ocean after losing an arm in a shark attack. Watch the film’s teaser trailer below and check out the movie’s official webpage for updates on Soul Surfer. Sony Pictures will release the movie on April 8, 2011.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDZhxHp5Vcg

As previously reported, Beltrami also has the horror thriller The Thing and the horror sequel Scream 4 coming out this year. The Thing was recently pushed back from its original April release date to October 14, 2011, while Scream 4 is still set to open on April 15.

Film Music Reporter has learned that Ilan Eshkeri has been tapped to compose the score the action spoof sequel Johnny English Reborn. Rowan Atkinson reprises his role from the 2003 hit comedy and is joined by cast members Rosamunde Pike, Dominic West and Gillian Anderson. In the movie, Johnny English goes up against international assassins hunting down the Chinese premier. The sequel is directed by Oliver Parker, most famous for his Oscar Wilde adaptations of An Ideal Husband, The Importance of Being Earnest and Dorian Gray, as well as the Shakespeare adaptation Othello and the St. Trinian’s series, all of which have been scored by his regular collaborator Charlie Mole. Read the rest of this entry »

Variety reports that A.R. Rahman has been hired to score the animated musical Monkeys of Bollywood from Dreamworks Animation. Also on board the project is lyricist Stephen Schwartz (Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Enchanted) and husband-and-wife producing team Gurinder Chadha and Paul Berge (Bend It Like Beckham, Bride and Prejudice). The project marks the studios’ first animated musical since 1998’s The Prince of Egypt, which was scored by Hans Zimmer and featured songs composed by Schwartz. The mumbai-set project is inspired by the Hindu epic poem “The Ramayana” and revolves around two monkeys who try to stop an ancient demon from conquering the world. No word yet on when the Bollywood-style animated musical is expected to come out.

Lionsgate Records has released Michael Wandmacher’s score for the horror thriller Train. The film directed by Gideon Raff (The Killing Floor) stars Thora Birch.The movie is set in Europe, where a group of American college athletes unknowingly board a train that will become one deadly ride. The movie premiered at 2008’s Screamfest Film Festival and has been available on DVD for more than a year. To listen to audio clips and download the score, visit Amazon or iTunes. Read the rest of this entry »

As reported last weekend, Trent Reznor has started work on the score for David Fincher’s upcoming adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. We have learned since that Reznor has re-teamed with Atticus Ross, his co-composer on The Social Network. The project marks Ross’ third major film score after The Social Network and Book of Eli in the previous year. Visit The Playlist for a transcript of Reznor’s comments on working on the score for the thriller during a recent New York Times Q&A. For more information on the movie, visit our previous article.

Intrada Records has announced the world premiere release of James Horner’s score for the 1982 buddy comedy 48 Hrs. The movie directed by Roger Spottiswoode stars Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte. In the movie, a hard-nosed cop reluctantly teams up with a wise-cracking criminal temporarily paroled to him, in order to track down a killer. Apart from the score, the album contains a quartet of original songs, supervised by Ira Newborn, all of them performed by ‘The BusBoys’. The soundtrack album is limited to 5000 copies and can be ordered on Intrada. Also visit Intrada’s page for audio clips from the soundtrack. Read the rest of this entry »

Relativity Music Group has released a soundtrack album for Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu’s drama Biutiful starring Javier Bardem. The album includes almost an hour of Gustavo Santaolalla’s original score, as well as several source tracks from the film. The album is currently available to download on Amazon and iTunes. Check out the links for audio clips from the soundtrack. A physical 2 CD release with the title Biutful/Almost Biutiful – Deluxe Edition will be released on February 8. Visit Amazon to pre-order the set. The movie will be released on January 28 by Roadside Attractions after receiving a limited Oscar-qualifying run at the end of last year.

Harry Gregson-Williams has recently recorded music for the upcoming documentary Life in a Day. The film was shot by filmmakers all over the world that serves as a time capsule to show future generations what it was like to be alive on the 24th of July, 2010. Around 4,500 hours were shot, having been sent in from 192 countries. The movie is directed by Kevin Macdonald who helmed the Award-winning docs One Day in September and Touching the Void, as well as the features The Last King of Scotland, State of Play and the upcoming The Eagle. Life in a Day also features music and sounds by Matthew Herbert who has been working on the documentary for quite some time (check out this YouTube video for more information on his role). No information has been given yet on the extent of Gregson-Williams’ involvement. Read the rest of this entry »

Film Music Reporter has learned that John Swihart is the new composer of the crime comedy Flypaper directed by Rob Minkoff and starring Patrick Dempsey, Ashley Judd and Jeffrey Tambor. He has taken over scoring duties from Mark Mancina, who was originally attached to score the movie as reported last month. The film will have its premiere on January 28 at the Sundance Film Festival. Read the rest of this entry »