Academy Award winner Michael Giacchino, who won the Oscar for his Up score a couple of days ago, continues his fruitful relationship with Walt Disney Pictures. The studio has confirmed to MovieScore Magazine that Giacchino will be writing the score for John Carter of Mars, the new film by Andrew Stanton. Interestingly, Stanton’s previous films as a director (Wall-E and Finding Nemo), were both scored by Thomas Newman. John Carter …

Screen Gems has confirmed to MovieScore Magazine that horror icon Christopher Young has been hired to compose the original score for their adaptation of the Tokyopop Manga Priest, directed by Scott Stewart (Legion) and starring Paul Bettany, Cam Gigandet, Maggie Q, Karl Urban and Lily Collins. The film was originally supposed to come out in 2010 but has been pushed to a January 14, 2011, release. Priest is produced by, …

Composer John Ottman has updated his filmography on his official web site to include The Losers, a new project with DC Comics for whom he scored Superman Returns in 2006. Ottman, who recently scored the animated Astro Boy, is also doing the music for The Resident, a thriller directed by Renny Harlin protege Antti Jokinen, starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Christopher Lee and Hilary Swank.
The Losers is based on Andy Diggle’s …

Michael Giacchino won his first Academy Award last night. The Oscar for ‘Best Original Score’ went to his widely acclaimed score for the Pixar hit Up, a score that previously has been awarded the Golden Globe, the BAFTA and a Grammy among many other honours. Giacchino spoke about the dream coming true in his acceptance speech, saying to the “kid out there who do not have a support system” that …

Costa Communications, who handles publicity for composer John Debney, has confirmed that Debney has been hired to compose the original music for Predators, the upcoming sci-fi action adventure written and produced by Robert Rodriguez. Debney has provided music for several of Rodriguez’ previous films, including Sin City and Spy Kids. Predators, which is scheduled to be released by Fox in July, is directed by Nimród Antal (Armored) and has been …

Michael Giacchino is a popular name among film music critics. The International Film Music Critics Association just revealed its winners of the 2010 IFMCA awards and Giacchino received four awards, including “Score of the Year,” “Composer of the Year” and “Best Original Score for an Animated Feature” for Up, and “Best Original Score to a Fantasy/Science Fiction Feature” for Star Trek. Giacchino has always been a big name in film music …

James Newton Howard is doing the score for the second Nanny McPhee film, replacing Thomas Newman who was originally hired to compose the music for the sequel. Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang premieres on March 25 and features, again, Emma Thompson as the title character, and also Ralph Fiennes, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Rhys Ifans and Maggie Smith. Susanna White (best known for BBC’s 2006 Jane Eyre miniseries) is directing from …

Canadian composer Andrew Lockington has been hired to score his second film for director Eric Brevig, following their Journey to the Center of the Earth adventure. Their new film together is Yogi Bear, a live-action/CG hybrid feature based on the classic Hanna-Barbera cartoon. Shot on location in New Zealand, the film will feature Dan Aykroyd (Yogi Bear), Justin Timberlake and Anna Faris. Warner Bros. is going to release the film in …

Finnish composer Dani Strömbäck won the Nordic Film Music Prize which was handed out for the first time during the Göteborg International Film Festival on Saturday. His intimate piano-based score for Klaus Härö’s drama Letters to Father Jacob won in competition with one nominee each from the other Nordic countries: The Blessing by Danish composer Flemming Nordkrog, Burrowing by Swedish composer Erik Enocksson, Max Manus by Norwegian composer Trond Bjerknæs …

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has revealed this year’s Oscar nominations. No big surprises in the Best Original Score category, where Michael Giacchino’s Golden Globe-nominated score for Up was joined by Hans Zimmer’s Sherlock Holmes, Marco Beltrami’s and Buck Sanders’ The Hurt Locker, Alexandre Desplat’s Fantastic Mr. Fox and, of course, James Horner’s Avatar. Randy Newman’s music for The Princess and the Frog was deemed ineligible in …