Previous HYPE Post: https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=139151

Something tickled my brain as I was working on this, which made me dig into the archives. It turns out that Callum and I posted our first HYPE Day! post in February of 2015. Which means I've been half-assing this preview series for a full decade now. (Guess I could have full-assed it for just half a decade instead.)

Highlights from the last two months: Kind of covered it in my April Fool's post lol. Not a whole lot of standouts, but Brave New World, Mickey 17, and Love Hurts generally delivered for me.
Scores that were fine: lots of 'em. Out of the ones I was most excited for, Alto Knights and Electric State.
Scores I'm going to call out because I'm feeling ornery: The Gorge, Black Bag, Novocaine. Real letdowns.

Now, Hastily dashed together for over ten years, it's your HYPE Day! Standings:

April Attractions:
Already out: A Minecraft Movie (Mark Mothersbaugh)

Drop (Bear McCreary) - Techno thriller set in a high-rise restaurant. Film looks fun, hope Bear felt inspired by this one. April 11.
Sinners (Ludwig Goransson) - Ryan Coogler! Vampire movie! Period piece! Michael B. Jordan! Two of him! (bonk) Expecting great stuff from Ludwig. (Related: Olivier Deriviere's new game score South of Midnight is really good, and seems to have a similar Deep South Gothic fantasy vibe.) April 18.

And...that's about it for the big headliners.

Others of note:
G20 (Joseph Trapanese) - Action flick, April 11.
The Amateur (Volker Bertelmann) - Action flick, April 11.
The Accountant 2 (Bryce Dessner) - Action flick, April 25
Until Dawn (Benjamin Wallfisch) - Wallfisch basically the go-to horror guy now. Does the game this is based off of have good music? April 25
Havoc (Tyler Bates) - Sure. April 25

May We Have Some Blockbusters?
Another Simple Favor (Theodore Shapiro) - I'm surprised there's a sequel to A Simple Favor, but I quite enjoyed Shapiro's score for the first one, so sure, let's do another! May 2.
Thunderbolts* (Son Lux) - Superhero score from the guys who did Everything Everywhere. I liked that score more than a lot of y'all, but I have no idea what to expect from this. Not loving the vibes around the movie but we'll see! May 2.
Karate Kid: Legends (Dominic Lewis) - Awww yeah! Just in time to fill the Cobra Kai-shaped hole in my heart. Also since this is also a sequel to the Jackie Chan movie, maybe this will give me the nudge to finally listen to Horner's score. May 30.
The Phoenician Scheme (Desplat) - Wes Anderson scores can be extremely hit or miss. And it feels like the whole concept may have peaked with Grand Budapest Hotel. And Asteroid City really pissed me off. BUT... this one's an espionage thriller. And I do like my Desplat spy thrillers. May 30.

Promising stuff from the middle of the month:
Fountain of Youth (Chris Benstead) - Heist adventure film from Guy Ritchie? Hell yeah.
Mission Impossible - The Final Reckoning (Lorne Balfe) - So Fallout's score grew on me over time. Dead Reckoning's did not. But also... maybe this is the last film in the series. Hoping they go all out. May 23.
Lilo & Stitch (Dan Romer) - The latest in remakes no one asked for, but I like Romer and think he's a good fit for this. May 23.
Fear Street: Prom Queen (???) - No composer listed that I can find. But Beltrami and co wrote some great material for the previous three films, so perhaps they'll return? May 23.

Also of note:
Nonnas (Marcelo Zarvos) - Comedy flick, btw Zarvos' Good American Family score was pretty solid, worth checking out. This is out May 9.
Fight or Flight (Paul Saunderson) - Action movie on a plane! May 9.
Clown in a Cornfield (Brandon Roberts/Marcus Trumpp) - Slasher film, but two of Beltrami's best former assistants are on it. May 9.
The Last Rodeo (Jeff Russo) - Sports drama, May 23

Jump Start on June Just in Case:
John Wick: Ballerina (Tyler Bates/Joel J. Richard)
The Life of Chuck (Newton Brothers)

What are you HYPED for?