Previous HYPE Post: https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=140441&expand=1

Good stuff from the last two months: Sinners Sinners Sinners. Also Our Oceans (Steven Price putting together a good 2025 so far.)
Also pretty solid: Fountain of Youth, The Last Rodeo, probably a couple of others.
Fine: The Amateur, The Accountant 2, Final Destination, Another Simple Favor, Thunderbolts*, Karate Kid Legends, Lilo and Stitch,
Bleh: Drop, Mission Impossible, probably a couple of others.

Looking forward to, to quote the Gershwins, Sublime, and Lana del Rey all at once, SUMMERTIIIMMMME!

Jumpin' June Jams:
Predator: Killer of Killers (Benjamin Wallfisch) - Wallfisch has been busy this year, but this is the first score of his I'm feeling particularly excited for. Wonder if it'll be more like Schachner's Prey, Silvestri's original, or somewhere in between. Wait, why isn't Schachner schoring this? Film out this Friday the 6th.
F1 (Hans Zimmer) - Zimmer and race cars, a combo so classic I can't even fake grouchiness. June 27th.
Materialists (Daniel Pemberton) - I'm probably more excited for the film than the score, since it's from Celine Song, whose Past Lives from a couple years back was great. But hey, Pemberton scoring a romcom? I'm in. June 13.

Other intriguing scores:
The Unholy Trinity (Marco Beltrami/Tristan Beltrami) - Beltrami in Western mode, and bringing along... I'm going to assume his son for the ride! June 13.
Elio (Rob Simonsen) - Pixar! Aliens! What more to say! June 20.
KPop Demon Hunters (Marcelo Zarvos) - Okay so this is a musical film, because why would you make a KPop inspired movie without any songs? So I don't know exactly what Zarvos' involvement in it is, so... yeah guess we'll see? June 20.
M3GAN 2.0 (Chris Bacon) - Maybe? June 27.
Off the Grid (Frederik Wiedmann) - No idea about the film (some action movie) but hey, something Wiedmann might overachieve on. June 27.

Might be of interest:
June 6:
Ballerina (Joel J. Richard/Tyler Bates) - At a certain point I think I need to be extremely selective about which Bates scores are worth checking out. Going to say probably not John Wick spinoffs?
The Life of Chuck (Newton Brothers) - Stephen King-inspired sci-fi?
Straw (Dara Taylor) - Tyler Perry drama? Maybe?

How to Train Your Dragon (John Powell) - No.

June 20:
28 Years Later (Hildur Gudnadottir) - Zombies! Also, are John Murphy's previous scores for the franchise worth a listen?
Everything's Going to be Great (Rolfe Kent) - I keep throwing films on these lists when I see Kent's name as if anything he's done recently has ever gotten a release.
Bride Hard (Ryan Shore) - Action comedy? It's from A Shore, that's something, right?
Eye for an Eye (Timothy Williams) - Remember what I said about Bates? Same thing about Williams. Maybe I should only listen when they're working together?

Ponyboi (Cristobal Tapia de Veer) - Thriller with a neon poster. Also reminds me I should check out White Lotus. June 27.

The Jewels of July!
Jurassic World: Rebirth (Alexandre Desplat) - He can't get replaced in the next 30 days, right?? July 2.
Superman (John Murphy/David Fleming) - I like Fleming, I'm ambivalent on Murphy. But we'll get the Williams theme back! Careful what you wish for? June 11.
Eddington (Daniel Pemberton/Bobby Krlic) - Ari Aster with a Western! Intriguing composer combo here as well. July 18.
Fantastic Four: First Steps (Michael Giacchino) - Will it be as good as Giacchino's first two Fantastic Four scores? Doubtful. But that's a pretty high bar, the theme is good, and I'm sure he'll deliver on the rest. July 25.

Also of Note:
Heads of State (Steven Price) - Action comedy. July 2.
Smurfs (Henry Jackman) - Jackman animation! July 18.
Oh, Hi! (Steven Price) - Price adding a romcom to his CotY push? Oh Hi indeed!

And at the Advent of August...
The Bad Guys 2 (Daniel Pemberton) - I really dug the first one, excited to get another! As long as he doesn't Enola Holmes it.
The Naked Gun (Joel McNeely) - Love Seth McFarlane or hate him, he at least gives Joel McNeely work. Both of these out August 1.

What are you HYPED for?

> Good stuff from the last two months: Sinners Sinners Sinners. Also Our Oceans (Steven Price putting together a good 2025 so far.)

WHOOPS.

> F1 (Hans Zimmer) - Zimmer and race cars, a combo so classic I can't even fake grouchiness. June 27th.

Given how Hans has already publicly discussed Steve Mazzaro's role on this score, I'm curious if a co-composer credit is gonna happen or if Mazzaro's role will be minimized via an additional contributor credit (as was the case in No Time to Die and was also probably the case in The Creator).

> Ballerina (Joel J. Richard/Tyler Bates) - At a certain point I think I need to be extremely selective about which Bates scores are worth checking out. Going to say probably not John Wick spinoffs?

Joel being first this time (and giving many of the interviews for the fourth movie) makes me wonder how much of this franchise has been "his" and for how long.

> Fantastic Four: First Steps (Michael Giacchino) - Will it be as good as Giacchino's first two Fantastic Four scores? Doubtful. But that's a pretty high bar, the theme is good, and I'm sure he'll deliver on the rest. July 25.

With you, I'm not sure if this is a typo or a very inside joke.

> WHOOPS.

Okay so you clearly recognize the one that's a typo...

Oceans with David Attenborough, my apologies. Too many dang ocean scores.

> Given how Hans has already publicly discussed Steve Mazzaro's role on this
> score, I'm curious if a co-composer credit is gonna happen or if Mazzaro's
> role will be minimized via an additional contributor credit (as was the
> case in No Time to Die and was also probably the case in The
> Creator).

Something something defining your Zimmer eras by who his primary co-composers are.

> Joel being first this time (and giving many of the interviews for the
> fourth movie) makes me wonder how much of this franchise has been 'his'
> and for how long.

Probably a long while.

> With you, I'm not sure if this is a typo or a very inside joke.

I don't think it's that esoteric, the joke is that the Incredibles are the Fantastic Four with the serial numbers filed off.

> 28 Years Later (Hildur Gudnadottir) - Zombies! Also, are John
> Murphy's previous scores for the franchise worth a listen?

I hear she's scoring it with a solo clarinet and the occasional cello. ;p

> Ponyboi (Cristobal Tapia de Veer) - Thriller with a neon poster.

Should be esoteric. Will it be listenable?

> Jurassic World: Rebirth (Alexandre Desplat) - He can't get replaced
> in the next 30 days, right?? July 2.

I can't believe this is happening. I fully expect Lorne Balfe to take over. But Desplat doing Jurassic World? I want to hear that!

> Fantastic Four: First Steps (Michael Giacchino) - Will it be as
> good as Giacchino's first two Fantastic Four scores? Doubtful. But that's
> a pretty high bar, the theme is good, and I'm sure he'll deliver on the
> rest. July 25.

This is probably what I'm most excited for. His theme is really memorable. He's great at action-adventure scores. And I love the lighter touch here. Should make for a great listen!

> Predator: Killer of Killers (Benjamin Wallfisch) - Wallfisch has
> been busy this year, but this is the first score of his I'm feeling
> particularly excited for. Wonder if it'll be more like Schachner's Prey,
> Silvestri's original, or somewhere in between. Wait, why isn't Schachner
> schoring this? Film out this Friday the 6th.

Companion score to Alien: Romulus? I dunno. I wish I could be more excited about this but animation just doesn't thrill me. Wish the director had managed to pull McCreary back.

> 28 Years Later (Hildur Gudnadottir) - Zombies! Also, are John
> Murphy's previous scores for the franchise worth a listen?

I feel like I already know what this is going to sound like.

> Bride Hard (Ryan Shore) - Action comedy? It's from A Shore, that's
> something, right?

Ryan Shore has chops, as you will find when you do your 2007 listening.

> Ponyboi (Cristobal Tapia de Veer) - Thriller with a neon poster.
> Also reminds me I should check out White Lotus. June 27.

Is this a riff on The Outsiders?

> Jurassic World: Rebirth (Alexandre Desplat) - He can't get replaced
> in the next 30 days, right?? July 2.

Why does the movie look so bad? At least the score should be good.

> Superman (John Murphy/David Fleming) - I like Fleming, I'm
> ambivalent on Murphy. But we'll get the Williams theme back!

I have a bad feeling about this.

> Fantastic Four: First Steps (Michael Giacchino) - Will it be as
> good as Giacchino's first two Fantastic Four scores? Doubtful. But that's
> a pretty high bar, the theme is good, and I'm sure he'll deliver on the
> rest. July 25.

Giacchino doing 60s vibes should be fun.

> The Naked Gun (Joel McNeely) - Love Seth McFarlane or hate him, he
> at least gives Joel McNeely work. Both of these out August 1.

Speaking of McNeely, I finally saw I Know Who Killed Me! He wrote some fine music but boy was it not the movie for the film. The movie was inspired by de Palma/Lynch/Hitch and so they went for a McNeely score, but really what this movie was inspired by was giallo, if you can imagine Argento through an ugly digital lens, and I can't help but wonder how the movie might have worked with a Goblin- or Arnaud Rebotini-style score instead of the classic orchestral Hollywood thing.

> What are you HYPED for?

I, uh, think you're missing a couple of important ones...(these were only recently announced):

Underdogs (Gregson-Williams, 6/15)
The Gilded Age: Season 3 (Gregson-Williams bros, 6/22)

> I, uh, think you're missing a couple of important ones...(these were only
> recently announced):

> Underdogs (Gregson-Williams, 6/15)
> The Gilded Age: Season 3 (Gregson-Williams bros, 6/22)

I just focus on film scores for this and go off of wikipedia haha. Though I do generally like that the gaps I leave get filled by others, makes it feel more like a crowdsourced list.

> I just focus on film scores for this and go off of wikipedia haha. Though
> I do generally like that the gaps I leave get filled by others, makes it
> feel more like a crowdsourced list.

It is annoyingly hard to track this stuff. I wish I could find that MovieScore Media page that used to have all the assignments, but I imagine that was annoying for them to update, too. I totally rely on the board, these posts included.

> June 6:
> How to Train Your Dragon (John Powell) - No.

I'll definitely give this a listen but I think I'm inclined to treat this similar to how I treat classical music pieces with multiple recordings, unless there is a ton of new music.

With classical music pieces, I always have one or two 'reference' recordings that I will revisit extremely frequently. However, I'm always searching for great recordings of my favorite pieces of music in hopes that I'll find a recording that will dethrone my current 'reference' recording.

I've played the first HTTYD score 170 times according to iTunes, so it will take a lot to dethrone the original album!

Outside of this, I think the below on your list are currently my only must buys, unless they get good reviews. I'm not really a Pemberton person but I did love the score for the first 'The Bad Guys' movie!

> The Jewels of July!
> Jurassic World: Rebirth (Alexandre Desplat) - He can't get replaced
> in the next 30 days, right?? July 2.
> Fantastic Four: First Steps (Michael Giacchino) - Will it be as
> good as Giacchino's first two Fantastic Four scores? Doubtful. But that's
> a pretty high bar, the theme is good, and I'm sure he'll deliver on the
> rest. July 25.

> And at the Advent of August...
> The Bad Guys 2 (Daniel Pemberton) - I really dug the first one,
> excited to get another! As long as he doesn't Enola Holmes it.

(Message edited on Thursday, June 5, 2025, at 1:56 p.m.)