THE 2008 TOP FORTY COMPOSER COUNTDOWN, PART TWO

Last week, two Americans, two Germans, two Englishmen, two Scotsmen, a Canadian and an Argentinian walked into a bar...

31. David Arnold
32. Christophe Beck
33. Rolfe Kent
34. David Newman
35. Patrick Doyle
36. Gustavo Santolalla
37. Ramin Djawadi
38. Klaus Badelt
39. Randy Edelman
40. Edward Shearmur

This week...

2007 RANKING: Not ranked
AGE: 48
BIRTHPLACE: New Jersey
REPRESENTATION: Kraft-Engel
BACKGROUND: Musical director/arranger/pianist for singers, theater songwriter, Saturday Night Live
5 OSCAR NOMINATIONS
1 EMMY, 4 NOMINATIONS
1 GRAMMY, 3 NOMINATIONS
1 TONY
BEST PICTURE NOMINEES: A Few Good Men
ONGOING FILMMAKER RELATIONSHIPS: Rob Reiner
FAN FAVORITE: The Addams Family
TYPECAST IN: Comedy
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. A Few Good Men--141 (U.S. gross in millions)
2. Sister Act--139
3. Patch Adams--135
4. Sleepless in Seattle--126
5. City Slickers--124
6. Hairspray--118
7. The Addams Family--113
8. The First Wives Club--105
9. George of the Jungle--105
10. When Harry Met Sally--92

As with many composers, Shaiman's feature career has apparently suffered due to the decline of his regular filmmaking collaborators -- Billy Crystal is no longer a dependable box-office star, and Rob Reiner's directing career has been on the wane ever since 1996's Ghosts of Mississippi. Having achieved a much deserved Broadway success with his musical version of Hairspray, Shaiman may have decided that the indignities of Hollywood film scoring weren't worth his time. However, this year Shaiman returned to features with a vengeance. In a year that seemed to finally herald the return of the movie musical as a commercially and artistically viable genre (with five musicals earning either high grosses or Oscar nominations), the film version of Hairspray was a critical success and a genuine commercial hit, with Shaiman's terrific song score one of its greatest assets. The Reiner-directed comedy-drama The Bucket List got deservedly harsh reviews but managed to earn a surprising $90 million (so far) in the U.S., and Shaiman's restrained music was one of its most palatable elements, resisting the obvious sentiment of the subject matter. Along with a stage musical version of Catch Me If You Can, Shaiman has been developing an original movie musical titled Slammer.

2007 RANKING: Not ranked
AGE: Unavailable
BIRTHPLACE: Chicago, Illinois
REP: Soundtrack Music Associates
BACKGROUND: Rock musician
RELATIONSHIPS: Zach Snyder, Rob Zombie
FAN FAVORITE: 300
TYPECAST IN: Horror
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. 300--210
2. Dawn of the Dead--58
3. Halloween--58
4. You Got Served--40
5. Kingdom Come--23
6. The Devil's Rejects--16
7. Half Past Dead--15
8. See No Evil--15
9. Get Carter--14
10. Slither--7

As one might expect, the enormous box-office success of 300 (which, if nothing else, proved that Gerard Butler isn't box-office poison after all) is leading to more and bigger assignments for its composer, and Warner Bros.' need to apologize for the unofficial re-working of some of Elliot Goldenthal's Titus music in the score apparently isn't being held against the composer. Bates seems to have taken Graeme Revell's place as the composer for reworkings of John Carpenter films, with Rob Zombie's well-photographed but tiresome remake of Halloween featuring Bates' reworkings of the classic Carpenter theme. This weekend saw the release of Doomsday, Neil Marshall's slick, highly enjoyable mash-up of 28 Days Later, The Road Warrior, Aliens, and especially Escape from New York, and Bates' suitably eclectic score featured strong echoes of the Carpenter sound. He also has two high profile genre projects in the pipeline -- the remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still, with Keanu as Klaatu (and Bates facing the unenviable task of following in Bernard Herrmann's footsteps) and, most intriguingly, 300 director Zach Snyder's film of Alan Moore's classic graphic novel Watchmen.

WHAT'S NEXT: The Day the Earth Stood Still, Watchmen

2007 RANKING: Not ranked
AGE: 53
BIRTHPLACE: Guipozca, Spain
REP: First Artists Management
2 OSCAR NOMINATIONS
RELATIONSHIPS: Pedro Almodovar, Julio Medem
FAN FAVORITE: Bad Education
TYPECAST IN: Drama
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. The Constant Gardener--33
2. The Kite Runner--15 (as of 3/9/08)
3. Volver--12
4. Talk to Her--9
5. All About My Mother--8
6. Bad Education--5
7. The Dancer Upstairs--2
8. Live Flesh--1
9. The Flower of My Secret--1

There was no new Almodovar film last year, and Iglesias hasn't had a U.S. boxoffice hit since The Constant Gardener, but the uneven, well-mounted film version of the bestseller The Kite Runner managed to earn its only Oscar nomination for Iglesias' lively, flavorful orchestral score. His Almodovar scores have shown that he can work in traditional Hollywood styles and is not just a composer of regionally flavored music, and he has a major Oscar-bait assignment coming up with Steven Soderbergh's two Che Guevara biopics.

WHAT'S NEXT: The Argentine, Guerrilla

2007 RANKING: 27
AGE: Unavailable
BIRTHPLACE: Unavailable
REP: Kraft-Engel
BACKGROUND: Saxophonist, studio musician for Michael Jackson, Linda Rondstadt, Dizzy Gillespie, others
RELATIONSHIPS: Keenan Ivory Wayans, Adam Sandler
FAN FAVORITE: Little Nicky
TYPECAST IN: Low comedy
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Wild Hogs--168
2. Big Daddy--163
3. The Longest Yard--158
4. Anger Management--134
5. Mr. Deeds--126
6. 50 First Dates--119
7. The Wedding Singer--80
8. White Chicks--69
9. Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo--65
10. Little Man--58

Castellucci is at an interesting crossroads in his career. Last year's Wild Hogs proved to be his highest grossing film yet and, even more impressively, his first big hit that didn't feature Adam Sandler (and despite having scored six films that grossed over $100 million each, he has still never had any of his scores released commercially, which may be a record of sorts). Meanwhile, Sandler himself has apparently moved onto another composer, Rupert Gregson-Williams, who scored last year's Chuck & Larry and the star's next two vehicles. Castellucci doesn't have any upcoming projects officially lined up, but having proved he can score a Sandler-less hit (and the Ice Cube vehicle Are We Done Yet? made a decent $49 million), he seems poised to break out into more respectable comedy projects.

2007 RANKING: 16
AGE: 48
BIRTHPLACE: Winnipeg, Canada
REP: First Artists Management
BEST PICTURE NOMINEES: Capote, Little Miss Sunshine
RELATIONSHIPS: Atom Egoyan, Mira Nair, Terry Gilliam, Billy Ray
BACKGROUND: University of Toronto, Canadian cinema
FAN FAVORITE: Ride with the Devil
TYPECAST IN: Suspense
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Little Miss Sunshine--59
2. Surf's Up--58
3. Fracture--38
4. The Nativity Story--37
5. 8mm--36
6. Bounce--36
7. Breach--32
8. Girl, Interrupted--28
9. Capote--28
10. Hearts in Atlantis--24

While Danna was unable to follow up his two consecutive Best Picture nominees Capote and Little Miss Sunshine with a third in 2007, he did score an unexpected Best Animated Feature nominee, providing charming music for Surf's Up. Otherwise he seemed to be typecast in suspense films, collaborating with his brother Jeff on the moderately successful legal thriller Fracture, and writing noirish music for the period docudrama Lonely Hearts and providing piano-dominated tension for the too-little-seen Breach. He recently scored the Lasse Hallstrom-directed pilot episode of New Amsterdam, and his next two announced projects are further collaborations with his brother: Neil LaBute's racially-themed suspense thriller Lakeview Terrace, and Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus (which gives Heath Ledger his final film role).

WHAT'S NEXT: Lakeview Terrace, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus.

2007 RANKING: 18
AGE: 49
BIRTHPLACE: Burbank, California
REP: Gorfaine/Schwartz
1 OSCAR NOMINATION
3 EMMYS, 5 NOMINATIONS
RELATIONSHIPS: Tom Shadyac, Robert Rodriguez, Garry Marshall, Adam Shankman, Mark Dindal
BACKGROUND: Orchestrator, TV composer
FAN FAVORITE: Cutthroat Island
TYPECAST IN: Comedy, animation, kids' movies, God movies
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. The Passion of the Christ--370
2. Bruce Almighty--242
3. Liar, Liar--181
4. Elf--173
5. Chicken Little--135
6. The Pacifier--113
7. Spy Kids--112
8. The Princess Diaries--108
9. Evan Almighty--100
10. Inspector Gadget--97
 
For a composer who has often been among the most prolific of our time, Debney's output was surprisingly sparse in 2007, only scoring projects for two of his regular directors -- Tom Shadyac's Evan Almighty (which failed to earn Bruce Almighty grosses yet still ranked among Debney's top ten earners) and Garry Marshall's Georgia Rule, which is most remembered for star Lindsay Lohan's offscreen troubles. However, Debney is well on his way to regain his status as one of the hardest working composers in Hollywood, with a slate of comedies featuring such stars as Eddie Murphy, Dane Cook, Kevin Costner, Robin Williams, and, um, Rob Schneider in his directorial debut.

WHAT'S NEXT: Meet Dave, My Best Friend's Girl, Swing Vote, Old Dogs, Big Stan

2007 RANKING: 30
AGE: 42
BIRTHPLACE: England
REP: Gorfaine/Schwartz
1 EMMY NOMINATION
RELATIONSHIPS: Adam Sandler, DreamWorks Animation
BACKGROUND: Brother of Harry Gregson-Williams, St. John College, rock musician, pop songwriter-producer, Media Ventures, British TV composer
FAN FAVORITE: Over the Hedge
TYPECAST IN: Comedy, animation
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Over the Hedge--155
2. Click--137
3. Bee Movie--126
4. I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry--119
5. What a Girl Wants--35
6. Hotel Rwanda--23

As Teddy Castellucci has moved away from scoring Adam Sandler movies, Rupert Gregson-Williams has begun filling in for him, with last year's hit I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry and this year's You Don't Mess with the Zohan and Bedtime Stories. In some ways, working for Sandler may not be the most rewarding task -- none of Sandler's low-comedy vehicles have even resulted in a commercially released score CD, despite their consistently high grosses -- but luckily for him, Gregson-Williams has also broken into animated feature scoring in a big way, following the underrated Over the Hedge with the Seinfeld-driven Bee Movie. It may be a while before Gregson-Williams gets another project with the Oscar-bait gravitas of Hotel Rwanda (on which he shared the scoring credit), but at least he has a live-action, non-Sandler comedy imminent as well, the Patrick Dempsey vehicle Made of Honor (aka My Female Best Friend's Wedding).

WHAT'S NEXT: You Don't Mess with the Zohan, Made of Honor, Bedtime Stories

2007 RANKING: 19
AGE: 36
BIRTHPLACE: Washington D.C.
REP: Gorfaine/Schwartz
BACKGROUND: Julliard, concert composer
RELATIONSHIPS: Tod Phillips, John Hamburg, Michael Showalter, Rawson Marshall Thurber, Will Ferrell
FAN FAVORITE: Heist
TYPECAST IN: Comedy
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. The Devil Wears Prada--124
2. Blades of Glory--118
3. Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story--114
4. Fun with Dick and Jane--110
5. Starsky & Hutch--88
6. Along Came Polly--87
7. You, Me and Dupree--75
8. Old School--74
9. 13 Going on 30--57
10. Not Another Teen Movie--38

The Will Farrell vehicle Blades of Glory proved to be one of Shapiro's biggest hits and, much more surprisingly, resulted in a score CD. The latest Farrell sports comedy, Semi-Pro, hasn't done nearly as well, despite being a fairly amusing little movie. In between Shapiro had the long-delayed Mr. Woodcock, yet another film based around Billy Bob Thornton's misanthropic comedic persona, which made a so-so $25 million during its brief time in theaters. Shapiro continues in high-concept comedy with Ben Stiller's Tropic Thunder and scores an Eddie Murphy family fantasy-comedy NowhereLand, but, more intriguingly, he has the film version of Michael Chabon's The Mysteries of Pittsburgh imminent, as well as a drama titled The Girl in the Park, which should remind Hollywood again (as Heist did several years ago) that Shapiro can write much more than just "funny" music.

WHAT'S NEXT: The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, The Girl in the Park, Tropic Thunder, NowhereLand

2007 RANKING: 14
AGE: 57
BIRTHPLACE: New York, New York
REP: Gorfaine/Schwartz
2 OSCAR NOMINATIONS
3 GRAMMY NOMINATIONS
BEST PICTURE NOMINEE: Forrest Gump
RELATIONSHIPS: Robert Zemeckis, Stephen Sommers
BACKGROUND: Berklee College of Music, pop arranger, TV composer (CHiPs)
FAN FAVORITES: Predator, Back to the Future
TYPECAST IN: Adventure, comedy
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Forrest Gump--329
2. Night at the Museum--250
3. Cast Away--233
4. Back to the Future--208
5. The Mummy Returns--202
6. What Women Want--182
7. The Polar Express--179
8. What Lies Beneath--155
9. Who Framed Roger Rabbit--154
10. Lilo & Stitch--145

Silvestri had only one film released in 2007 (following the blockbuster success of Night at the Museum), his first collaboration with Robert Zemeckis since 2004's Oscar-nominated The Polar Express, but while Beowulf benefited from Silvestri's rousing (and judiciously spotted) music, including a strong end title song, the film did only moderate business considering its budget and hype. Silvestri seems to be long past the point of chasing assignments, and his next two projects, with his regular collaborators Zemeckis and Stephen Sommers, aren't due until 2009.

WHAT'S NEXT: A Christmas Carol, G.I. Joe

2007 RANKING: 20
AGE: Unavailable
BIRTHPLACE: Unavailable
REP: Kraft-Engel
BACKGROUND: Concert composer, music producer
RELATIONSHIPS: Tyler Perry, Nick Cassavetes
FAN FAVORITE: Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium
TYPECAST IN: Youth drama
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Bridge to Terabithia--82
2. The Notebook--81
3. John Q.--71
4. Step Up--65
5. Step Up 2 the Streets--55 (3/16/08)
6. Why Did I Get Married--55
7. Good Luck Chuck--35
8. Take the Lead--34
9. Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium--31
10. ATL--21

Zigman was the most prolific American film composer of 2007, with eight films released (though one of them, the flop Luke Wilson comedy The Wendell Baker Story, had actually been on the shelf for two years). Bridge to Terabithia was by far the biggest hit of the group, and its success may lead to more fantasy projects for the composer (as may his work on Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, despite its poor grosses) but such films as The Jane Austen Book Club, Martian Child and Pride didn't even manage to hit the $10 million mark. So far Zigman seems to be typecast in "people" films, especially young people, with the hit sequel Step Up 2 the Streets (Zigman was one of the few major personnel from the original to return) currently in theaters, though he has also found a niche scoring African-American themed projects, following the swim team drama Pride with two Tyler Perry films.

WHAT'S NEXT: Sex and the City, Meet the Browns, Flash of Genius, My Sister's Keeper, Powder Blue, Lake City

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