One last rundown rankings post (once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more). I originally intended to just cover all the greats, i.e., the 4.5-star and 5-star scores across the eras. Conveniently, the count is exactly 50.

This should be largely consistent with earlier era-specific rankings posts, though I know there’s been some movement since those went up many months ago - Megamind and Twister dropped, The Haunted Mansion and The Thin Red Line climbed, etc.

Early days and the Media Ventures era (1988-2004) - 13
The Remote Control era (2005-2012) - 15
The Too Big To Fail era (2013-2022) - 22

The best **** scores that just miss out: Antz, The Peacemaker, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and Sherlock Holmes

****½ (round down to 4)
50. Megamind - Zimmer/Balfe; add’l arranging by Tom Holkenborg & Stephen Hilton; source cues by Geoff Zanelli
49. Top Gun: Maverick - Balfe/Zimmer/Gaga/Faltermeyer; various add’l composers & arrangers
48. Twister - Mancina; add’l arranging by Don Harper & John Van Tongeren
47. Planes - Mancina; add’l music and arranging by Dave Metzger; conducted by Don Harper
46. The Time Machine - Badelt; add’l music by Geoff Zanelli; add’l arranging Jim Dooley, Ramin Djawadi & Tim Jones

45. Maleficent: Mistress of Evil - Zanelli; add’l by Zak McNiel & Phill Boucher; conducted by NGS
44. The Great Wall - Djawadi; add’l music by Brandon Campbell; technical advisors W. Marriott & O. Benyamin
43. Pacific Rim - Djawadi; technical score advisors Brandon Campbell & William Marriott; ambience Mel Wesson
42. Black Widow - Balfe; add’l by Max Aruj, Steffen Thum, Steve Davis, Sven Faulconer & Dieter Hartmann
41. Black Adam - Balfe; add’l by A. Price, K. Riepl, Peter G. Adams, Steve Davis & Stuart Michael Thomas

40. Mars Needs Moms - Powell; add’l by Paul Mounsey, James McKee Smith & three others
39. Puss in Boots - Jackman; add’l by Matthew Margeson & Dominic Lewis; technical engineer Alex Belcher
38. King Arthur - Zimmer; add’l by NGS, RGW, Dooley, Jablonsky, Morris & Neely; thank you to Lorne Balfe
37. Backdraft - Zimmer; orchestrated by Shirley Walker; add’l orchestrations by Bruce Fowler
36. Interstellar - Zimmer; sequencer programming by Andrew Kawczynski & Steve Mazzaro

35. The Haunted Mansion - Mancina; orchestrated by David Metzger & Don Harper
34. Prince Caspian - HGW; add’l music by Stephen Barton, Halli Cauthery & David Buckley
33. The Last Duel - HGW; add’l music by Ho-Ling Tang; add’l arranging by Richard Harvey
32. X-Men: The Last Stand - Powell; add’l by John Ashton Thomas & James McKee Smith
31. Happy Feet - Powell; add’l by John Aston Thomas & James McKee Smith; add’l music prep by Germaine Franco

****½ (round up to 5)
30. Bullet Train - Lewis; add’l music by Daniel Futcher; conducted by Nick Glennie-Smith
29. Speed 2: Cruise Control - Mancina; add’l music by John Van Tongeren, Christopher Ward & Don Harper
28. Encanto - Franco; songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda; score consultant John Powell
27. Kung Fu Panda - Zimmer/Powell; add’l music by Henry Jackman & James McKee Smith
26. Kung Fu Panda 2 - Zimmer/Powell; add’l music by Lorne Balfe, Dominic Lewis & Paul Mounsey

25. Strange World - Jackman; add’l by Halli Cauthery, Antonio Di Iorio, Sven Faulconer, Evan Goldman & Alex Kovacs
24. Rumble - Balfe; add’l music by Steve Davis, Stuart Michael Thomas, Sven Faulconer & Steffen Thum
23. Kingsman: The Golden Circle - Jackman/Margeson; add’l by Alex Belcher, Jason Soudah & Ryan Taubert
22. Pan - Powell; add’l music and arranging by Batu Sener, Paul Mounsey & Anthony Willis
21. The Thin Red Line - Zimmer; various contributions by Powell, Badelt, Jeff Rona & Gavin Greenaway

20. Inception - Zimmer; add’l by Lorne Balfe; sequencer prog. Andrew Kawczynski & Jacob Shea; ambience Mel Wesson
19. Chicken Run - HGW/Powell; “music assistance” by Steve Jablonsky, James McKee Smith & Geoff Zanelli
18. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - HGW; programmers Stephen Barton, Toby Chu & James McKee Smith
17. Home - Balfe; score technical engineers including Max Aruj; score technical assistant Steffen Thum
16. Crimson Tide - Zimmer; add’l music by Nick Glennie-Smith; choir conducted by HGW

15. Gladiator - Zimmer/Gerrard; add’l music/arranging by Klaus Badelt; source music by Jeff Rona; guitar Heitor Pereira

*****
14. The King’s Man - Margeson/Lewis; add’l arranging by Daniel Futcher
13. WW84 - Zimmer; add’l by David Fleming & Steve Mazzaro; programming by Omer Benyamin & Steve Doar
12. Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas - HGW; add’l arranging by Stephen Barton; assistant engineer Toby Chu
11. The Prince of Egypt - Zimmer/Schwartz; various contributions by HGW, RGW, G. Greenaway, Powell & Badelt

10. The Lion King ‘94 - Zimmer/John/Rice; songs also by Mark Mancina & Jay Rifkin; panpipes Richard Harvey
9. Kingdom of Heaven - HGW; add’l music by Stephen Barton; thank you to Halli Cauthery & Toby Chu
8. POTC: At World’s End - Zimmer: add’l Balfe, NGS, Jackman, Örvarsson, Zanelli, Gire, Sponsler; ambience Mel Wesson
7. Paycheck - Powell; add’l music/arranging by James McKee Smith, John Ashton Thomas & T.J. Lindgren
6. The Promise / Wújí - Badelt; orchestrated by Robert Elhai & Jeff Toyne

5. HTTYD 3 - Powell; add’l music & arranging by Batu Sener, Paul Mounsey & Anthony Willis
4. The Call of the Wild - Powell; add’l music & arranging by Batu Sener & Paul Mounsey
3. HTTYD - Powell; add’l by James McKee Smith, Paul Mounsey, Dominic Lewis & Michael John Mollo
2. Solo: A Star Wars Story - Powell/Williams; add’l by Batu Sener, Paul Mounsey & Anthony Willis
1. HTTYD 2 - Powell; add’l music, arranging, MIDI orchestration, and programming by Paul Mounsey & Anthony Willis