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?