James Newton Howard is an American film composer, orchestrator and music producer. He has scored over 100 films and is the recipient of a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, and nine nominations for Academy Awards.
The soundtrack to Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released on 30 October 2001. The film's score was composed and conducted by John Williams. The soundtrack was nominated for Best Original Score at the 74th Academy Awards. The film introduces many character-specific themes (leitmotifs) that are used in at least one sequel as well, although most of the themes are only used again in Chamber of Secrets. These themes include two themes for Voldemort, two themes for Hogwarts, a Diagon Alley theme, a Quidditch theme, a flying theme, two friendship themes, and the main theme. This main theme was reprised and developed in all eight of the main Harry Potter films, as well as the spinoff films Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and its sequels, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.
Batman Begins: Music from the Motion Picture is the soundtrack album to Christopher Nolan's 2005 film Batman Begins. It was released on June 15, 2005. The soundtrack drew from the film score, composed by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard, as well as contributions by Ramin Djawadi, Lorne Balfe and Mel Wesson.
The Dark Knight: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack album to the 2008 film of the same name, which is a sequel to Christopher Nolan's 2005 film Batman Begins. The soundtrack was released on July 15, 2008, in three editions: CD, limited edition CD digipak, and digital download. The 2-CD Special Edition was released on December 9, along with the DVD. A limited edition 180-gram vinyl LP was released on August 12. The soundtrack was composed by Batman Begins collaborators Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard and recorded in April.
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is a 2018 American fantasy adventure film directed by Lasse Hallström and Joe Johnston and produced by Mark Gordon and Larry Franco, from a screenplay by Ashleigh Powell. Produced by Walt Disney Pictures with The Mark Gordon Company, it is a retelling of E. T. A. Hoffmann's 1816 short story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King", as well as of Marius Petipa and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's 1892 ballet The Nutcracker, about a young girl who is gifted a locked egg from her deceased mother and sets out in a magical land to retrieve the key. The film stars Keira Knightley, Mackenzie Foy, Eugenio Derbez, Matthew Macfadyen, Richard E. Grant, Misty Copeland, Helen Mirren, and Morgan Freeman.
Solo: A Star Wars Story is the soundtrack album to the 2018 film of the same name directed by Ron Howard, which is the second instalment in the Star Wars anthology series. The score is composed by John Powell, with the Han Solo's theme conducted and composed by John Williams, whom he had collaborated for several Star Wars films, was included in the album. Williams further composed several demos, that were not included in the soundtrack but was released in the deluxe edition. Besides composing the original themes, Powell also incorporated Williams' music from Star Wars films.
Bumblebee (Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack to the 2018 film of the same name directed by Travis Knight, the sixth installment in the Transformers film series. The soundtrack to the film consisted of several popular songs from the 1980s, which were released by Republic Records on the same day as the film's release, December 21, 2018. Bumblebee (Motion Picture Score), an album consisting of the film's original score composed by Dario Marianelli, was released by Paramount Music on the same date.
"Fall on Me" is a song by Italian singer Andrea Bocelli and his son, Matteo Bocelli. It was released as a single on September 20, 2018. The song was written by the members of the American duo A Great Big World, and produced by Bob Ezrin. Matteo and Fortunato Zampaglione provided the Italian lyrics. Both the Italian and English versions were included on Bocelli's 2018 album, Sì. A music video was released for the soundtrack of the movie The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. The song played over the movie's end credits. The song was performed at the opening ceremony of the 2019 Summer Universiade in Naples on 3 July 2019.
Jungle Cruise (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack album to the 2021 film Jungle Cruise, featuring original score composed by James Newton Howard. In addition to the score, a re-written film version of "Nothing Else Matters" performed by Metallica, from their 1991 studio album Black Album, was featured in the film and in the soundtrack. It was released on July 30, 2021, along with the soundtrack album distributed by Walt Disney Records. The score was recorded at Sony Scoring Stage in February 2020 and concluded in late-2021, despite sessions being halted due to COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Los Angeles Master Chorale choir also provided vocals for the track. The score received positive response, with praise directed towards Howard's composition, ethnic instrumentation and orchestral sounding.
The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part is the soundtrack to the 2019 film of the same name, which is the sequel to the 2014 film The Lego Movie, the fourth instalment overall in the franchise and the last film in the franchise to be produced and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. and Warner Animation Group. The album featured 10 songs performed by various artists, including a few tracks performed by the cast members. The songs were written by Shawn Patterson, Christopher Miller and Jon Lajoie, along with prominent songwriters.
King Kong (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack album to the epic adventure monster film King Kong, directed by Peter Jackson. The film's music was initially set to be composed by Howard Shore, who recorded several cues for the film but opted out due to creative differences with the director. James Newton Howard replaced him and work on the film's score began in late October and was completed in late November, an overall duration of under six weeks. Howard stated that the film "[w]as the hardest to compose" due to the hectic scoring schedule as the film was set for release on December 14, 2005.
Treasure Planet (An Original Walt Disney Records Soundtrack) is the soundtrack album to the 2002 animated science fiction action-adventure film Treasure Planet. The album features seventeen tracks – fifteen tracks from the score composed by James Newton Howard, and also featured two pop singles: "I'm Still Here" and "Always Know Where You Are". Walt Disney Records released the film's soundtrack album on November 19, 2002. The film's score received positive critical reception, with praise directed on Howard's composition.
Raya and the Last Dragon (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack album to the 2021 animated film Raya and the Last Dragon. The film score was composed by James Newton Howard, scoring a Disney animated film for the first time in 19 years since Treasure Planet (2002). The album features 24 tracks and was released by Walt Disney Records on February 26, 2021. Jhené Aiko wrote and performed a song entitled "Lead the Way" for the end credits.
Incredibles 2 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack album to the 2018 film Incredibles 2, the sequel to Pixar's The Incredibles (2004). The film is directed by Brad Bird and featured musical score composed by Michael Giacchino, who also worked on the predecessor. The recording of the score began during mid-2017 and continued till May 2018, at the Sony Scoring Stage in California. The soundtrack album was released digitally, alongside the film, on June 15, by Walt Disney Records and in CDs on June 29. The soundtrack featured Giacchino's scores as well as vocalised theme songs for Mr. Incredible, Frozone, and Elastigirl featured in the credits. The digital release also featured bonus versions of the theme songs sung by Disney's a cappella group, DCappella, and their version of the track "The Glory Days" from the predecessor.
Maleficent (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the score album composed by James Newton Howard for the 2014 film Maleficent, based on the Disney villain character Maleficent from the animated film Sleeping Beauty (1959). The film is a live-action spin-off of Sleeping Beauty, and is loosely inspired from Charles Perrault's original fairy tale. Directed by Robert Stromberg, the film stars Angelina Jolie in the titular character.
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil is the score album to the 2019 film Maleficent: Mistress of Evil directed by Joachim Rønning, a sequel to Maleficent (2014). Geoff Zanelli, who previously collaborated with Rønning on Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017), scored music for the film, replacing James Newton Howard, who composed for the predecessor. The soundtrack was released by Walt Disney Records on October 18, 2019. It features 22 score cues composed by Zanelli, and a theme song "You Can't Stop the Girl" by Bebe Rexha, released earlier as a single on September 20, 2019. The score received positive critical response, with Zanelli's composition being considered as an improvement over Howard's score from the predecessor.
Dark Phoenix (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack album to the 2019 film of the same name, based on the Marvel Comics X-Men characters. It is a sequel to X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) the seventh and final mainline installment in the X-Men film series, and the twelfth installment overall. Directed by Simon Kinberg, the film's musical score is composed by Hans Zimmer; his first superhero film he scored after Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016). The soundtrack album was released alongside the film on June 7, 2019, by Fox Music. The score received mixed critical response. A second album titled Xperiments From Dark Phoenix released in that August, containing unreleased music from the film, which garnered generally favorable response.
X-Men: First Class is the soundtrack album to the 2011 film X-Men: First Class. The film, directed by Matthew Vaughn, is based on the X-Men characters appearing in Marvel Comics, and is the fourth mainline installment in the X-Men film series and the fifth installment overall. Henry Jackman, who had worked with Vaughn in Kick-Ass (2010) composed the score, becoming the fourth composer to score for the series. The score consisted of pop and rock infused music, which is reminiscent of John Barry's themes from the 1960s.
The Rocketeer: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack album composed by James Horner for the 1991 film of the same name directed by Joe Johnston. The original score was released by Hollywood Records on June 10, 1991, which includes much of Horner's score and two cover songs — "Begin the Beguine" (1935) and "When Your Lover Has Gone" (1931) — all of them were performed by Melora Hardin and arranged by Billy May. Upon release, the album was issued in multiple physical formats.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is the score album to the 2023 film The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. James Newton Howard composed the film's score, whose album consisted of 40 tracks and featured pianist Yuja Wang in three of them. The soundtrack was released by Sony Masterworks on November 17, 2023.
