THE TOP FORTY COUNTDOWN 2003: PART FOUR

Does the top ten look familiar? It should, it's the same ten as last year. But can you guess the order? No? A-ha! (Parts One, Two, and Three of this article can be accessed on the website)

2002 RANKING: 10
AGE: 74
REPRESENTATION: Blue Focus
1 OSCAR, 18 NOMINATIONS
ONGOING FILMMAKER RELATIONSHIPS: Paul Verhoeven, Fred Schepisi, Joe Dante, Rick Berman, Lee Tamahori, Stuart Baird, David Anspaugh
FAN FAVORITES: Star Trek scores, Alien, Planet of the Apes, Chinatown
TYPECAST IN: Sci-fi, action-adventure
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Air Force One--172 (U.S. Gross in Millions)
2. The Mummy--155
3. Gremlins--153
4. Rambo: First Blood Part II--150
5. Mulan--120
6. Total Recall--119
7. The Sum of All Fears--118
8. Basic Instinct--117
9. Sleeping With the Enemy--101
10. Star Trek: First Contact--92

The success of The Sum of All Fears has helped Goldsmith to stay commercially viable (and it's sad to think that a composer of his talents and history still needs to have fresh hit movies to stay in the game), a nice trick for a composer who's been scoring movies for forty years and who isn't named John Williams. Though he seems to have no plans to retire, he has been choosing his projects more carefully of late, but despite his always fine work, the latest Star Trek film was not only the biggest boxoffice flop of the series but was also disdained by many fans, though surprisingly the critics were often kinder. He has two projects lined up with favorite collaborators: a Looney Tunes movie for Joe Dante (Dante's first feature in five years), and another sports movie for the director of Hoosiers and Rudy.

WHAT'S NEXT: Looney Tunes: Back in Action, The Game of Their Lives

2002 RANKING: 9
AGE: 59
REP: Gorfaine/Schwartz
1 OSCAR, 16 NOMINATIONS
RELATIONSHIPS: Pixar, Ron Howard, Barry Levinson, Gary Ross
FAN FAVORITE: The Natural
TYPECAST IN: Americana, comedy, computer animation
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Monsters Inc.--252
2. Toy Story 2--245
3. Toy Story--191
4. Meet the Parents--166
5. A Bug's Life--162
6. Maverick--101
7. Parenthood--100
8. Michael--95
9. Awakenings--51
10. The Natural--47

One of the most respected composers in Hollywood, as well as the funniest, Newman finally received his long overdue Oscar, for his Monsters Inc. song. Newman hasn't scored a live action film in a few years and it's time for him to demonstrate anew his great gift for scoring more earthbound stories. The best news is that Newman will reunite with Pleasantville director Gary Ross for the film Seabiscuit, which would seem to be a Natural project for Newman's talents.

WHAT'S NEXT: Seabiscuit

2002 RANKING: 8
AGE: 53
REP: Gorfaine/Schwartz
1 OSCAR NOMINATION
RELATIONSHIPS: Robert Zemeckis, Nancy Meyers, Charles Shyer, Stephen Sommers
FAN FAVORITES: Predator, Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Mummy Returns
TYPECAST IN: Adventure, comedy
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Forrest Gump--329
2. Cast Away--233
3. Back to the Future--208
4. The Mummy Returns--202
5. What Women Want--182
6. What Lies Beneath--155
7. Who Framed Roger Rabbit--154
8. Lilo & Stitch--145
9. Stuart Little--140
10. The Bodyguard--121

Having dropped out of Tarzan a few years ago, Silvestri got another shot at a Disney animated film with Lilo & Stitch, and it proved to be the studio's most successful traditionally animated film in years. Though Lilo and Maid in Manhattan aren't the kind of Silvestri scores that his diehard followers love him for, a big scale adventure film like Van Helsing should provide the kind of Mummy Returns-sized score his fans crave, though his recent departure from Pirates of the Caribbean is a big disappointment.

WHAT'S NEXT: Van Helsing, Untitled Nancy Meyers Project

2002 RANKING: 7
AGE: 56
REP: Gorfaine/Schwartz
1 OSCAR
RELATIONSHIPS: Peter Jackson, David Cronenberg, David Fincher
FAN FAVORITES: Lord of the Rings series
TYPECAST IN: Thrillers
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers--337
2. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring--313
3. Mrs. Doubtfire--219
4. The Silence of the Lambs--130
5. Big--114
6. Analyze This--106
7. Seven--100
8. Panic Room--95
9. The Client--92
10. Gangs of New York--77

Creatively, Shore had an outstanding 2002, with strong scores for The Two Towers, Spider, Esther Kahn and Panic Room. And he won his first Oscar. Though Two Towers failed to get a score nomination, the film managed to surpass its predecessor's box office take and win a Best Picture nomination (virtually unheard of for a sequel). One of its fellow nominees was Gangs of New York which, though lacking a true original score, gave Shore a prominent scoring credit for the use of his concert piece Brooklyn Heights. Along with past successes in a lighter vein, like Big and Mrs. Doubtfire, Shore can do pretty much whatever he wants -- at least, once he's finished scoring Return of the King (and its inevitable expanded DVD edition).

WHAT'S NEXT: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

2002 RANKING: 5
AGE: 47
REP: Gorfaine/Schwartz
4 OSCAR NOMINATIONS
RELATIONSHIPS: Sam Mendes, Jon Avnet, Martin Brest, Gillian Armstrong
FAN FAVORITE: The Shawshank Redemption
TYPECAST IN: Oscar bait
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. The Green Mile--136
2. American Beauty--130
3. Erin Brockovich--125
4. Phenomenon--104
5. Road to Perdition--104
6. Fried Green Tomatoes--82
7. The Horse Whisperer--75
8. Scent of a Woman--62
9. Up Close and Personal--51
10. Little Women--50

One of the strongest signs of Newman's importance is how his style has managed to influence other composers, not only rising composers like William Ross (Tuck Everlasting often sounds like a Thomas Newman temp track, with a pivotal cue clearly influenced by The Horse Whisperer) and Christophe Beck (Just Married), but even fellow A-listers like James Newton Howard (The Emperor's Club) and Danny Elfman (A Civil Action). Newman managed to garner his fifth Oscar nomination for Road to Perdition, one of his finest scores, though White Oleander and The Salton Sea failed to garner much notice. His next project, the Pixar GGI fish film Finding Nemo, should expose his gifts to a whole new audience and allow him a lighter and more varied canvas than he normally works on.

WHAT'S NEXT: Finding Nemo

2002 RANKING: 2
AGE: 49
REP: Gorfaine/Schwartz
2 OSCARS, 8 NOMINATIONS
RELATIONSHIPS: Ron Howard, James Cameron, Mel Gibson
FAN FAVORITE: Star Trek II
TYPECAST IN: Adventure, Oscar bait
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Titanic--600
2. How the Grinch Stole Christmas--260
3. The Perfect Storm--182
4. Apollo 13--172
5. A Beautiful Mind--170
6. Deep Impact--140
7. Ransom--136
8. Honey, I Shrunk the Kids--130
9. Clear and Present Danger--122
10. The Pelican Brief--100

While the commercial success of Horner's Titanic score is still unparalleled, his most recent work has understandably been less lucrative. He did score his second Best Picture winner, A Beautiful Mind (even Williams and Goldsmith each have only one Best Picture on their resumes, while shockingly Bernstein has none), but 2002 was marked by two expensive flops, Windtalkers and Four Feathers, whose scores were similarly disappointing. His upcoming films include two dramas starring recent Oscar winners, Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Connelly, but neither Beyond Borders nor House of Sand and Fog seems likely to make much of a dent in the public consciousness (Not that this ought to affect his choice in projects. Iris was one of the smallest movies he's done in many years, but also one of the best and featured one of his freshest scores)

WHAT'S NEXT: House of Sand and Fog, Beyond Borders

2002 RANKING: 6
AGE: 51
REP: Gorfaine/Schwartz
5 OSCAR NOMINATIONS
RELATIONSHIPS: M. Night Shyamalan, Garry Marshall, P.J. Hogan, Lawrence Kasdan, Michael Hoffman
FAN FAVORITE: Signs
TYPECAST IN: Adventure, thrillers, Julia Roberts comedy
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. The Sixth Sense--293
2. Signs--227
3. The Fugitive--183
4. Pretty Woman--178
5. Runaway Bride--152
6. Dinosaur--137
7. My Best Friend's Wedding--126
8. Unbreakable--95
9. America's Sweethearts--93
10. Space Jam--90

With M. Night Shyamalan's Signs, Howard has had his biggest boxoffice hit since, well, the mast megahit he had with Shyamalan, The Sixth Sense. But while Sense's score was discreet and well crafted but ultimately forgettable, his work on Signs brings him to a new plateau as a musical dramatist. His work for the charming failed Oscar bait The Emperor's Club was enjoyable but surprisingly influenced by Thomas Newman's distinctive style, and Howard had the bad luck to score Disney's two biggest animated flops, Atlantis and Treasure Planet, but the skill and variety of his work shows his potential to attain even greater heights in his profession.

WHAT'S NEXT: Hidalgo, Peter Pan

2002 RANKING: 3
AGE: 45
REP: Gorfaine/Schwartz
1 OSCAR, 7 NOMINATIONS
RELATIONSHIPS: Ridley Scott, Tony Scott, Dreamworks, Jerry Bruckheimer, Penny Marshall, James L. Brooks, Barry Levinson, John Woo, Michael Bay
FAN FAVORITES: Gladiator, The Thin Red Line
TYPECAST IN: Epics, action, Oscar bait
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. The Lion King--312
2. Mission: Impossible 2--215
3. Pearl Harbor--198
4. Gladiator--187
5. Rain Man--172
6. Hannibal--165
7. As Good As It Gets--148
8. The Rock--134
9. The Ring--128
10. Black Hawk Down--108

Though Zimmer failed to score any major Oscar contenders this year (not counting the Best Animated Feature nod for Spirit, which surprisingly failed to get Zimmer a song nomination), he wrote one of his best scores yet for the smash horror hit The Ring. He returned to familiar territory for the Africa-set Tears of the Sun, which proved to be a commercially dicey project, especially for a Bruce Willis action film. Tears emphasized the biggest drawback to Zimmer's success -- his use of multiple collaborators. While Zimmer got the main scoring credit on Tears, the soundtrack CD lists seven additional composers, which nearly makes the Color Purple score seem like the work of a one-man band. It's admirable that Zimmer credits his collaborators so openly, but there's the danger that producers may balk at paying Hans Zimmer prices for a Steve Jablonsky score.

WHAT'S NEXT: Pirates of the Caribbean, Matchstick Men

2002 RANKING: 4
AGE: 49
REP: Blue Focus
2 OSCAR NOMINATIONS
RELATIONSHIPS: Sam Raimi, Tim Burton, Barry Sonnenfeld, Gus Van Sant, Brett Ratner
FAN FAVORITES: Batman, Mission: Impossible
TYPECAST IN: Comic book movies, adventure, Oscar bait
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Spider-Man--403
2. Batman--251
3. Men in Black--250
4. Men in Black II--190
5. Mission: Impossible--180
6. Planet of the Apes--179
7. Chicago--165
8. Batman Returns--162
9. Good Will Hunting--138
10. Spy Kids--111

In a career so filled with boxoffice successes that he's starting to look like a junior John Williams, Elfman has managed to top himself with Spider-Man, securing his position as the Superhero composer of our time. Though some fans found the score over-familiar and themeless, Elfman's skills as a dramatist were in full evidence and thematically the score is much subtler than you'd expect for a comic book adventure. He brought his usual energy to Men in Black II and maybe a bit too much energy to Red Dragon, whose over-the-top score was immensely enjoyable but helped push the film toward camp (and honestly, is Hopkins doing anything in his performance as Lecter that Vincent Price couldn't have done just as well in his time?). As if having the year's biggest hit wasn't enough, Elfman also provided a skilled, discreet incidental score for the year's Best Picture winner, Chicago, a one-two punch that puts Elfman in the company of Wiliams (for Jurassic Park and Schindler's List), Silvestri (Forrest Gump) and Horner (Titanic)

WHAT'S NEXT: The Hulk, Big Fish, The Amazing Spider-Man

2002 RANKING: 1
AGE: 71
REP: Gorfaine/Schwartz
5 OSCARS, 42 NOMINATIONS
RELATIONSHIPS: Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Chris Columbus
FAN FAVORITES: Spielberg movies, Star Wars series
TYPECAST IN: Fantasy adventure, Oscar bait
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Star Wars--460
2. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial--434
3. The Phantom Menace--431
4. Jurassic Park--357
5. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone--316
6. Attack of the Clones--310
7. Return of the Jedi--309
8. The Empire Strikes Back--290
9. Home Alone--285
10. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets--261

With four films released in 2002, Williams was one of the most prolific composers of the year, especially impressive given the length of his scores. Commercially it was a typical year for him -- all high-grossers if no record breakers, but creatively he managed to break new ground (or at least, revisit his early style in a fresh new way) with his delightful, acclaimed score for Catch Me If You Can, which managed to convince even those knee-jerk Williams-hating film critics that there's more to the maestro than they realized. With no Spielberg or Lucas film on the imminent horizon, Williams seems to be taking some well deserved time off.

WHAT'S NEXT: Star Wars Episode III

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