The Soundtracks of Summer 2006

Posted by: Jerrica

The summer movie season is just around the corner, and big summer movies mean lots of movie music. From surefire blockbusters to long-anticipated dramas, this year may be significantly profitable for the box office as well as your favorite music source. Music has the power to make or break a film, and the summer of '06 has the potential to yield some highly promising soundtracks.

Films with superheroes ripped from comics have turned out some spectacular scores in the past. To name just a few, Danny Elfman's "Spider-Man" and Hans Zimmer's "Batman Begins" soundtracks mark some of the most intense and striking compositions to accompany a title of comic book origins. Recently, Dario Marianelli's "V for Vendetta" has been standing tall as a powerful score to a powerful movie. Though "X-Men 3: The Last Stand" is a heavy contender at the box office, it won't come near being most popular in CD sales. No, there's an old favorite in the ring for that title. The biggest comic book movie score of the year will undoubtedly be "Superman Returns" with John Ottman reprising John Williams original theme music from the 1978 Superman movie with Christopher Reeve and adding his own original compositions to the classic key pieces.

While Ottman comes from composing projects on similar comics terrain such as "Fantastic Four" and "X2: X-Men United," "Mission: Impossible 3" composer Michael Giacchino comes from similar spy/suspense territory as "Alias" and "Lost," working with J.J. Abrams as he does so well in the world of television. Now, Giacchino gets to be the next composer to reprise the theme from the old "Mission: Impossible" television show, as Adam Clayton and Hans Zimmer for "Mission: Impossible" and "M:I-2" before him. Judging from the sample in the trailer, the latest revamp of the theme is a retro-redux, closer to that of the TV series but on a grander orchestral scale. Clayton had the most innovative remix of the original music with a cool twist of electronic and techno. Zimmer's score had more class and gravity but his remake of the theme was just over 30 seconds long, made just for the opening titles, and based around the wailing of electric guitar. The official version of the theme for the second film was bolder and more hardcore; Limp Bizkit's "Take A Look Around." Both movies in the franchise so far have had separate scores and soundtracks that matched the tone and direction of each film, and so far "M:I-2" has been the strongest one musically. Soon, we can add "M:I:III" to the list for more compare and contrast.

Other movie scores hitting the stores as the titles hit theaters include "Poseidon" by Klaus Badelt and "The Da Vinci Code" by Hans Zimmer. In regards to the amazingly versatile Hans Zimmer, it's interesting to note that very soon after Zimmer's own agency announced he would be scoring "The Simpsons" movie, it seems he has withdrawn from the project, or so says the last report from HansZimmer.com. It's still anyone's guess who will take the job, and whether or not Alf Clausen who does the score for the series or Danny Elfman who has done the theme and other work for the series will have a hand in the music for the movie.

Sight and sound go hand-in-hand, and with the ability of music to create mood, inspire emotion, and impact our overall cinematic experience, there's always promise when what you hear is as unforgettable as what you see. This summer, big movies will carry big soundtracks, and there's good reason to be as excited about some of the CDs that will be coming out as there is about the films themselves.

Update: Dan the guru of sound from soundtrack.net wrote in with a correction. HansZimmer.com was making a JOKE (in poorly worded confusing English) to try to explain why Zimmer's agency removed the mention of THE SIMPSONS MOVIE from his PDF file. However, Zimmer is still on board the project, and has NOT withdrawn. Thank you Dan for your knowledge and the correction!