Previous HYPE Post: https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=141586&expand=1

Wow, what a whirlwind the last two months have been for music!

Good: Desplassic World, Fantastic Four, Heads of State, Predator, Elio, KPop Demon Hunters, Straw, Queen of the Ring
Solid/had its moments: F1, Eddington, Superman (Yeah I said it!), Smurfs, Oh Hi, 28 Years Later
Shrug/Meh: Materialists, M3gan 2.0, Off the Grid, Life of Chuck
I don't friggin' know: How to Train Your Dragon

I feel like the next two months are a little thinner compared to the recent glut, but that's typical of this stretch I think. Summer movie season is winding down, awards season is still in the film festival stages, and September will give us the start of seven million horror movies. But fear not! There's still music that will arrive unexpectedly. But more importantly to this post, there is still music to be HYPED about! So let us dive in!

August Attractions!!
The Bad Guys 2 (Daniel Pemberton) - Already out!
The Naked Gun (Lorne Balfe) - Already out!
Honey Don't! (Carter Burwell) - A neo-noir dark comedy with lots of attractive actors, from (just one of) the Coen Brothers. Could be an interesting score from Burwell, even though I was underwhelmed by the last two he did for either Coen. August 22
The Thursday Murder Club (Thomas Newman) - Crime comedy featuring lots of old British actors. Music by Thomas Newman? I love this score already. August 28

Maybe of interest to just me specifically
The Pickup (Christopher Lennertz) - Heist comedy, always good to see new Lennertz. August 6
Nobody 2 (Dominic Lewis) - Action comedy. David Buckley did alright on the first film, but Lewis stepping in intrigues me greatly. August 15
Americana (David Fleming) - Crime thriller. Actually got a festival premiere way back in 2023 but only now getting a wide release. Interested to see which side of Fleming worked on this one. August 15
Highest 2 Lowest (Howard Drossin) - Neo-noir thriller from Spike Lee. At first I was concerned that Terence Blanchard isn't scoring this, but I looked into Drossin a bit, and he's been orchestrating for Blanchard as far back as 25th Hour and has worked on a variety of other films and shows and games for a long time. So if not Blanchard, he seems like the next best option. August 22

Of general interest:
Red Sonja (Sonya Belousova/Giona Ostinelli) - 'Who?' you may be asking. Well, they're the duo behind The Witcher and its very catchy theme song... which I've somehow never heard. But! Barbarian sword and sorcery film, how fun! August 15
Witchboard (Sam Ewing) - 'Who?' you may be asking. Well, he's a longtime McCreary assistant and scored the delightful horror-comedy Slotherhouse a couple years ago, and now he's scoring this remake of a schlocky 80s horror flick. August 15
The Roses (Theodore Shapiro) - A remake of 1989's The War of the Roses (score by David Newman, should I check that out?). Comedy about a divorcing couple, could be fun stuff from Shapiro. August 29
Caught Stealing (Idles/Rob Simonsen) - New Darren Aronofsky, but once again no Mansell. Darn. But hey, I liked Elio so I'm bullish on Simonsen right now! With a punk band in tow! August 29

Additionally...
Freakier Friday (Amie Doherty) - All I remember of the first film was the band competition? August 8 (But I think a soundtrack is already out?)
Fixed (Tyler Bates/Joanne Higginbottom) - Adult animated comedy. August 13
Eden (Hans Zimmer) - How is Hans Zimmer way down here, you ask? And for a Ron Howard movie?? Well... it premiered at TIFF a full year ago, and had a theatrical release in Germany this past spring. And no one's mentioned it. Period piece survival thriller, so it could be promising. But also... if it was going to be a big deal I kind of assume someone would've talked about it by now. August 22
Eenie Meanie (Bobby Krlic) - Heist thriller. August 22
Love, Brooklyn (Joel P. West) - Oh yeah, the Shang Chi guy! Small scale drama film. August 29

September Standouts:
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (Joe Hisaishi) - Look who's making his American debut! And on a romantic fantasy film, no less! September 19
The Lost Bus (James Newton Howard) - About time! I feel like JNH has been weirdly quiet since his flurry of late 2023 releases. He's back now, for... okay it's a Paul Greengrass joint. And a survival thriller movie. So expect a certain aesthetic. People were split on News of the World but I thought it was pretty good. More importantly, it's new JNH! September 19
One Battle After Another (Jonny Greenwood) - New Paul Thomas Anderson film, looks more action-packed than his usual work. Hopefully this brings out another side to Greenwood. September 26

Names of Note:
The Conjuring: Last Rites (Benjamin Wallfisch) - Wow, they've done nine of these movies? Dang. We'll see what Wallfisch cooks up this time. How many horror scores has he done this year now? Are we counting the Predator ones? September 5
Twinless (Jung Jaeil) - Dark comedy. Which... yeah that seems to be Jung's specialty now. September 5
Preparation for the Next Life (Emile Mosseri) - Drama film. I feel like Mosseri did like three moderately successful scores five years ago and then we never heard from him again. Guess he's back though? September 5
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale (???) - Okay I mean it has to be John Lunn, right? I'm just not seeing a name on wikipedia. But I'm absolutely certain that it's either John Lunn or Lorne Balfe. September 12

Perhaps?
Him (Bobby Krlic) - Football movie, but make it Cronenberg-esque body horror. I'm excited for the movie, we'll see about the music. September 19
Gabby's Dollhouse: The Movie (Stephanie Economou) - Musical fantasy comedy? Hm, okay. September 26
Eleanor the Great (Dustin O'Halloran) - Small-scale drama. Feel like I haven't heard much from O'Halloran solo, only stuff he's done with Bertelmann. September 26
Spinal Tap II - I haven't actually seen the first film/heard the music from it. But hey, could get some good and funny music out of this. September 12

What are you HYPED for?

(Message edited on Tuesday, August 5, 2025, at 9:43 a.m.)

> The Thursday Murder Club (Thomas Newman)
I was closely following the production news behind this film, and seeing Thomas Newman's name gave me so much hope. Too bad nobody will be able to watch the film or hear the score in theaters.

> Nobody 2 (Dominic Lewis)
10 days to go and I'm already seated, popcorn ready. Five Dominic Lewis scores in one year is monumentally insane!

> Caught Stealing (Idles/Rob Simonsen)
I was late to watching The Whale, and I'd argue that score rivals some of Mansell's best among his Aronofsky collaborations. Simonsen is an extremely adaptable composer, so I know there's no way this score is gonna let me down.

> A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (Joe Hisaishi)
Yes! I'm honestly more excited for what a Kogonada-Hisaishi collab would bring, than the fact that it's his first Hollywood film.

> The Lost Bus (James Newton Howard)
Cautiously optimistic with this.

> Eleanor the Great (Dustin O'Halloran)
A new O'Halloran release is always welcome on my list.

> 10 days to go and I'm already seated, popcorn ready. Five Dominic Lewis
> scores in one year is monumentally insane!

Now if I could just truly love one of them!

> I was late to watching The Whale, and I'd argue that score rivals
> some of Mansell's best among his Aronofsky collaborations. Simonsen is an
> extremely adaptable composer, so I know there's no way this score is gonna
> let me down.

Maybe I need to relisten to The Whale, it didn't leave any impression on me that I remember. I seem to be very mixed on Simonsen though; his Deadpool and Ghostbusters scores got a lot of praise that left me confused about what I was missing.

> Nobody 2 (Dominic Lewis) - Action comedy. David Buckley did alright on the first film, but Lewis stepping in intrigues me greatly. August 15

It continues to fascinate me that I have zero enthusiasm for David Leitch's movies but all the enthusiasm for the music he commissions Lewis to write for them.

> Red Sonja (Sonya Belousova/Giona Ostinelli) - 'Who?' you may be asking. Well, they're the duo behind The Witcher and its very catchy theme song... which I've somehow never heard. But! Barbarian sword and sorcery film, how fun! August 15

I mean...if someone doesn't shout "Sonja! Sonja!" repeatedly, what's the point?

> Eden (Hans Zimmer) - How is Hans Zimmer way down here, you ask? And for a Ron Howard movie?? Well... it premiered at TIFF a full year ago, and had a theatrical release in Germany this past spring. And no one's mentioned it. Period piece survival thriller, so it could be promising. But also... if it was going to be a big deal I kind of assume someone would've talked about it by now. August 22

It's hard to remember that Ron Howard was arguably one of the American directors of the aughts, juggling commercially successful hits and critically lauded dramas. Having four straight feature films underperform at the box office in the 2010s probably didn't help, though perhaps it's easier to just blame the "electric cars are gay" joke from The Dilemma for precipitating this decline.

Omer Benyamin, Steven Doar, Steve Mazzaro, Alejandro Moros, and even Tina Guo are credited with additional music per IMDb. And Dune vocalist Loire Cotler is gonna be featured.

> Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale (???) - Okay I mean it has to be John Lunn, right? I'm just not seeing a name on wikipedia. But I'm absolutely certain that it's either John Lunn or Lorne Balfe. September 12

It's Lunn and the album drops next month.

> What are you HYPED for?

Hopefully we get a Gilded Age Season 3 album in a few weeks.

> It continues to fascinate me that I have zero enthusiasm for David
> Leitch's movies but all the enthusiasm for the music he commissions Lewis
> to write for them.

The first Nobody is a sentimental favorite of mine, first movie I saw in theaters after covid. Also has some very dark subtext, which it seems like the second film will be leaning into. Which is to say I might talk myself into seeing it in theaters.

> I mean...if someone doesn't shout 'Sonja! Sonja!' repeatedly, what's the
> point?

Oh yeah, should I check out the score for the original?

> It's hard to remember that Ron Howard was arguably one of the
> American directors of the aughts, juggling commercially successful hits
> and critically lauded dramas. Having four straight feature films
> underperform at the box office in the 2010s probably didn't help, though
> perhaps it's easier to just blame the 'electric cars are gay' joke from
> The Dilemma for precipitating this decline.

> Omer Benyamin, Steven Doar, Steve Mazzaro, Alejandro Moros, and even Tina
> Guo are credited with additional music per IMDb. And Dune vocalist
> Loire Cotler is gonna be featured.

Not too hard for me to remember. In fact, it's a little more jarring to see he hasn't really had a hit since Rush, which was over a decade ago now. (I'll give him partial credit for salvaging Solo.)

> It's Lunn and the album drops next month.

Awesome

> Hopefully we get a Gilded Age Season 3 album in a few weeks.

Oh nice. Was meaning to make a post about tv scores this year sometime soon...

> Oh yeah, should I check out the score for the original?

It’s not too-shelf Morricone, and it hasn’t always had the best album programs (I have not heard Quartet’s definitive presentation), but it has its moments.

> Not too hard for me to remember. In fact, it's a little more jarring to see he hasn't really had a hit since Rush, which was over a decade ago now. (I'll give him partial credit for salvaging Solo.)

Except Rush was also a minor box office disappointment that didn’t result in all the awards attention people wanted it to get. Yeah, it did better than Frost/Nixon dollars-wise, but that earlier movie got the Oscar nods they wanted.

Ron Ron’s last mega-hit was probably Angels & Demons. But to his credit he has also cranked out a ton of documentaries in the last decade or so, clearly deciding that his time is better spent on personally meaningful projects.

> It continues to fascinate me that I have zero enthusiasm for David
> Leitch's movies but all the enthusiasm for the music he commissions Lewis
> to write for them.

The Fall Guy title cue is the only cue in this modern era to do that thing where it takes the main theme and turn it into a love theme during the action. Geoff Zanelli did it in The Lone Ranger and it finally has a cousin.

It's the single most Goated move you can do as a composer. I'm annoyed more don't do it during climaxes, but I guess romance like that ain't so hot in hollywood anymore.

> What are you HYPED for?

Expanded release of Daniel Pemberton's USS Callister: Into Infinity from Black Mirror Season 7 earlier this year, releasing Friday.
Obviously I'm a fan of the original USS Callister; I actually wrote about it here previously, but the real standout when I listened to the whole season compilation was Ariel Marx's Hotel Reverie (as it would turn out both episodes are nominated for Emmys). The Emmy nod might explain the delayed expanded release (especially with the text 'Emmy nominated score' on the cover), so I'm curious to know if Netflix will make the same effort to release a complete Hotel Reverie score as well. Daniel Pemberton has been making use of release countdowns on Spotify recently which is how I learned about this, but no such indication can be seen for the other episode.
Just one thing to temper expectations: from the tracklist available, almost all the new material is in the first two thirds, with basically the whole climax already included on the season compilation. But new Daniel Pemberton is always new Daniel Pemberton!

> Expanded release of Daniel Pemberton's USS Callister: Into Infinity from
> Black Mirror Season 7 earlier this year, releasing Friday.
> Obviously I'm a fan of the original USS Callister; I actually wrote about
> it here previously, but the real standout when I listened to the whole
> season compilation was Ariel Marx's Hotel Reverie (as it would turn out
> both episodes are nominated for Emmys). The Emmy nod might explain the
> delayed expanded release (especially with the text 'Emmy nominated score'
> on the cover), so I'm curious to know if Netflix will make the same effort
> to release a complete Hotel Reverie score as well. Daniel Pemberton has
> been making use of release countdowns on Spotify recently which is how I
> learned about this, but no such indication can be seen for the other
> episode.
> Just one thing to temper expectations: from the tracklist available,
> almost all the new material is in the first two thirds, with basically the
> whole climax already included on the season compilation. But new Daniel
> Pemberton is always new Daniel Pemberton!

Oh! Awesome.

> Love, Brooklyn (Joel P. West) - Oh yeah, the Shang Chi guy! Small
> scale drama film. August 29

A new Joel P. West??? After all this time??? I know what I'm hyped for!

> September Standouts:
> A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (Joe Hisaishi) - Look who's making his
> American debut! And on a romantic fantasy film, no less! September 19
> The Lost Bus (James Newton Howard) - About time! I feel like JNH
> has been weirdly quiet since his flurry of late 2023 releases. He's back
> now, for... okay it's a Paul Greengrass joint. And a survival thriller
> movie. So expect a certain aesthetic. People were split on News of the
> World but I thought it was pretty good. More importantly, it's new JNH!
> September 19

I hope these turn out well! I'm most optimistic about the Hisaishi than the Howard, but I also liked News of the World, so fingers crossed!

> Wow, what a whirlwind the last two months have been for music!

> I don't friggin' know: How to Train Your Dragon

Duuude... same.

> August Attractions!!
> The Naked Gun (Lorne Balfe) - Already out!

Balfe (& Co.) doing Zimmer derivative parody action music super seriously... which basically just sounds like The Dark Knight smashed with Mission: Impossible- Dead Reckoning. It's fine.

> Maybe of interest to just me specifically
> Americana (David Fleming) - Crime thriller. Actually got a festival
> premiere way back in 2023 but only now getting a wide release. Interested
> to see which side of Fleming worked on this one. August 15

Fleming is very hit-or-miss for me, but I'll give it a whirl.

> Of general interest:
> Red Sonja (Sonya Belousova/Giona Ostinelli) - 'Who?' you may be
> asking. Well, they're the duo behind The Witcher and its very catchy theme
> song... which I've somehow never heard. But! Barbarian sword and sorcery
> film, how fun! August 15

The only problem with this is it's a 2020's barberian sword & sorcery flick and not one from the 80's (heck, even the 90's or early 2000's). Curious, but expectations very low.

> Witchboard (Sam Ewing) - 'Who?' you may be asking. Well, he's a
> longtime McCreary assistant and scored the delightful horror-comedy
> Slotherhouse a couple years ago, and now he's scoring this remake of a
> schlocky 80s horror flick. August 15

Huh, I'm assuming this is a resurrection of the uber sleazy witchy franchise from the late 80's? Jay of RedLetterMedia should be pleased.

> Caught Stealing (Idles/Rob Simonsen) - New Darren Aronofsky, but
> once again no Mansell. Darn. But hey, I liked Elio so I'm bullish on
> Simonsen right now! With a punk band in tow! August 29

Typical bonkers Aronofsky, but Simonsen can do good things, so... maybe?

> Additionally...
> Freakier Friday (Amie Doherty) - All I remember of the first film
> was the band competition? August 8 (But I think a soundtrack is already
> out?)

Soundtrack already out and actually has a nice little sampling of the score included! It's very typical comedy-contemporary music, but Doherty does well and it's not that bad. Have no clue if it carries any thematic material over from the 2000's flick, though some of the "iconic" songs are given remakes.

> Eden (Hans Zimmer) - How is Hans Zimmer way down here, you ask? And
> for a Ron Howard movie?? Well... it premiered at TIFF a full year ago, and
> had a theatrical release in Germany this past spring. And no one's
> mentioned it. Period piece survival thriller, so it could be promising.
> But also... if it was going to be a big deal I kind of assume someone
> would've talked about it by now. August 22

I'm really curious about this and its corresponding film. Looks like it might be a disaster, but possibly an entertaining. Also: Ana de Armas and Sydney Sweeney?!?? YES PLEASE!!

> Eenie Meanie (Bobby Krlic) - Heist thriller. August 22

Should be challenging, at least.

> Love, Brooklyn (Joel P. West) - Oh yeah, the Shang Chi guy! Small
> scale drama film. August 29

Might be fun.

> September Standouts:
> A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (Joe Hisaishi) - Look who's making his
> American debut! And on a romantic fantasy film, no less! September 19

I'm in on this. Kinda shocking it's taken Hisaishi this long to work on a Hollywood production.

> The Lost Bus (James Newton Howard) - About time! I feel like JNH
> has been weirdly quiet since his flurry of late 2023 releases. He's back
> now, for... okay it's a Paul Greengrass joint. And a survival thriller
> movie. So expect a certain aesthetic. People were split on News of the
> World but I thought it was pretty good. More importantly, it's new JNH!
> September 19

Howard in thriller mode is always a gamble for me, but it's Howard so I'll definitely give it a shot.

> One Battle After Another (Jonny Greenwood) - New Paul Thomas
> Anderson film, looks more action-packed than his usual work. Hopefully
> this brings out another side to Greenwood. September 26

Another bonkers looking flick, but also intriguing. Usually like Greenwood's efforts, so another I'll be looking forward to.

> Names of Note:
> The Conjuring: Last Rites (Benjamin Wallfisch) - Wow, they've done
> nine of these movies? Dang. We'll see what Wallfisch cooks up this time.
> How many horror scores has he done this year now? Are we counting the
> Predator ones? September 5

Counting the Predator ones (I'm assuming he's scoring Badlands), that's... five. So all of his 2025 output has/will be horror titles except for Mortal Kombat II, which for some might still be a horror.

> Twinless (Jung Jaeil) - Dark comedy. Which... yeah that seems to be
> Jung's specialty now. September 5

Cool.

> Preparation for the Next Life (Emile Mosseri) - Drama film. I feel
> like Mosseri did like three moderately successful scores five years ago
> and then we never heard from him again. Guess he's back though? September
> 5

This is a name I'm not immediately familiar with...

> Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale (???) - Okay I mean it has to be
> John Lunn, right? I'm just not seeing a name on wikipedia. But I'm
> absolutely certain that it's either John Lunn or Lorne Balfe. September 12

Haha! A Balfe Downton Abbey score!! ... oh no, that's going to be the case now, isn't it. o.o

> Perhaps?
> Him (Bobby Krlic) - Football movie, but make it Cronenberg-esque
> body horror. I'm excited for the movie, we'll see about the music.
> September 19

Apparently a demonic body horror at that. Should be interesting. Score could be disturbingly cool or outright unlistenable. Hoping for the former.

> Gabby's Dollhouse: The Movie (Stephanie Economou) - Musical fantasy
> comedy? Hm, okay. September 26

Uhh... sure. Whatever.

> Spinal Tap II - I haven't actually seen the first film/heard the
> music from it. But hey, could get some good and funny music out of this.
> September 12

You need to see the first film whenever you can. Some great deadpan humor and lovingly poking fun at the Rock star life of the 70's and 80's.

> Balfe (& Co.) doing Zimmer derivative parody action music super
> seriously... which basically just sounds like The Dark Knight
> smashed with Mission: Impossible- Dead Reckoning. It's fine.

Considering how much more you love each of those scores than I do, I'd assume you would enjoy this more than you did.

> Huh, I'm assuming this is a resurrection of the uber sleazy witchy
> franchise from the late 80's? Jay of RedLetterMedia should be pleased.

Correct.

> I'm really curious about this and its corresponding film. Looks like it
> might be a disaster, but possibly an entertaining. Also: Ana de Armas
> and Sydney Sweeney?!?? YES PLEASE!!

Oh yeah. Jude Law, Vanessa Kirby, and Daniel Bruhl as well. If nothing else, plenty of eye candy in that cast.

> This is a name I'm not immediately familiar with...

Minari!

Will have to check my notes for things, but first and foremost I'm hyped for Wednesday:S2 and Alien:Earth. Big expectations for these two scores.

Greenwood is set for an interesting September with the PT Anderson and The Bride. (I'm always excited for any Frankenstein/Frankenstein adjacent score.)

> Will have to check my notes for things, but first and foremost I'm hyped
> for Wednesday:S2 and Alien:Earth. Big expectations for these two scores.

> Greenwood is set for an interesting September with the PT Anderson and The
> Bride. (I'm always excited for any Frankenstein/Frankenstein adjacent
> score.)

This The Bride? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bride!

I'm seeing a March release and a Gudnadottir score.

> This The Bride? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bride !

> I'm seeing a March release and a Gudnadottir score.

Huh. I must have got that all wrong, or missed the change? Oh well. The wedding is off!

*Really wondering if Russo's Alien will try it's own thing, or try to stick to general form. Maybe it ends up more Streitenfeld than Goldsmith/etc., and that might still work out. Anything but blandness will interest me.