John Corigliano’s score for the upcoming Mel Gibson thriller Edge of Darkness, directed by Martin Campbell, will be replaced by a new score by Howard Shore. The switch of composers was first indicated when the theatrical poster for the film appeared online this week, showing a credit block that makes no mention of Corigliano but lists Howard Shore under the “music by” tag. Warner Bros. has confirmed to MovieScore Magazine that Howard Shore is replacing the score but did not comment on the reasons behind the replacement (for more info see post update below). The film is produced by GK Films and Warner Bros. is distributing with a release date set to January 29.

According to MovieScore Magazine’s sources, Howard Shore is not only scoring Edge of Darkness for GK Films, but also their upcoming crime drama London Boulevard, based on the novel by Ken Bruen. This film is directed by William Monahan, who wrote the screenplay for Edge of Darkness and The Departed, another film scored by Howard Shore. London Boulevard stars Keira Knightley, Colin Farrell and Anna Friel.

The original assignment of Corigliano to score Edge of Darkness was a prestigious and unexpected one. The Academy Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer is considered to be one of the leading contemporary composers of concert music, but he had only scored three feature films prior to Edge of Darkness (Altered States, Revolution and The Red Violin, which won him the Oscar in 1999). Also sensational was the fact that famous conductor Leonard Slatkin, a long-time Corigliano collaborator and supporter, was brought in to conduct the recording of the original score, which took place earlier this year in London with the London Metropolitan Orchestra at Abbey Road. “LMO enjoyed very much working for the first time with celebrated American composer John Corigliano and used several different orchestral strengths – the largest group being 85 musicians and the smallest being 58,” the orchestra recently reported on its web site.

Just like Corigliano, Howard Shore is an Academy Award-winning composer. He won multiple Oscars for his Lord of the Rings music and has confirmed that he has begun work on the upcoming prequels to that trilogy, The Hobbit, for producer Peter Jackson and director Guillermo del Toro. Shore is spending a lot of time conducting his Tolkien music in concerts all around the world and has only scored a handful of feature films, including Doubt and Eastern Promises, since the final Lord of the Rings film, The Return of the King. Paradoxically, Shore found himself in a similar position to that of Corigliano’s on Edge of Darkness when his score for King Kong was rejected and replaced by James Newton Howard in 2005.

Edge of Darkness is based on the 1985 TV miniseries of the same name and features Mel Gibson as a homicide detective who uncovers a corporate cover-up and government collusion when investigating the death of his activist daughter. The supporting cast includes Ray Winstone, Danny Huston, Shawn Roberts and Denis O’Hare. Martin Campbell, the director, previously worked with composer James Horner on most of his films, including The Mask of Zorro and Beyond Borders.

UPDATE (October 20, 2009) MovieScore Magazine has been able to obtain more information regarding the reasons behind the rejection of John Corigliano’s score for Edge of Darkness. According to our sources, the switch of composer followed when the film recently went into a revision phase. “After John had completed scoring and recording the score, they decided to rework the film and thus sought to create a different sort of film than was originally created,” MovieScore Magazine’s source claims. “The switch wasn’t a simple change. It was not a simple drop and switch due to dissatisfaction – but rather a whole style change in the film.”

In related news, Hollywood Reporter today broke the news that GK Films, the production company behind Edge of Darkness, have made the decision to move their deal from Warner Bros. to Sony, signing a three-year deal including at least two films per year at Sony.