> Man, Jackman had one hell of a scoring spree in 2017-18. He feels to me like the anti-John Powell. Jackman scores regularly, and is consistently ok to pretty good. Powell seems to have misplaced the “Yes, I will write a film score” button, but when he presses it, it’s fantastic.

Different ages (Powell's about a decade older than Jackman) and different stages of their careers. This was essentially year 8-9 of Jackman's career as a lead film composer, which for Powell was around 2005-06. For all we know, in 2027 Jackman will start being more choosy too.

We tend to forget these guys also had another life before they got into film music (jingles for one and pop production for the other), plus some years assisting Hans. In a way, I do think of these guys like North American sports coaches. You wonder why many retire just at the start of old age or when they've only been in charge for a decade, and then you look at their resumes and see they've also been assistant coaches or coordinators for most of the last 30+ years. Unless I'm in my vocation or need the money at that age, I'd retire too!