Danny Elfman Composing Score for “Justice League” Movie

The Hollywood Reporter has discovered that Danny Elfman is taking over as the composer of the “Justice League” movie.

The hiring comes just as the additional photography, with Joss Whedon standing in for Zack Snyder, for the movie gets underway in London. Whedon is overseeing the new shoot and post-production work on “Justice League” after Snyder stepped aside to deal with a family tragedy.

Snyder had been working with Antonius Tom Holkenborg, aka Junkie XL, on the movie. Holkenborg, who scored “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” and counts movies like “Mad Max: Fury Road” and “Deadpool” among his credits, is now moving on to “Tomb Raider”, according to sources.

Elfman is no stranger to superhero films, having scored “Batman”, “Batman Returns”, “Spider-Man” and “Spider-Man 2”.

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sundevil82
sundevil82
June 14, 2017 7:54 pm

Anything is better than Junkie XL, but still seems like an odd choice. I love Elfman, but I always get a cartoony vibe from his scores which seems to contradict what Hans Zimmer has established so far. I wonder if he’ll stick with the current themes for the characters as i think, at the very least the Superman and Wonder Woman ones are pretty popular. I hope to be pleasantly surprised though.

LJ_602
LJ_602
June 15, 2017 10:22 am
Reply to  sundevil82

Well, is Superman’s theme really popular? Because who really knows what his theme is? Is the the somber piano tune used several times Man of Steel and Batman v Superman? Is it the “I will find him” track used in all of Superman’s fight scenes and the opening of BvS? Is it the orchestra that is constantly trying to find ways to hide (under Snyder’s direction no doubt) singing the syllables or resemblance of hallelujah? I’m assuming (as a fellow Superman fan) you’re referring to the track “What are you going to to when you’re not saving the world?” from… Read more »

Marnoman
Marnoman
June 15, 2017 12:53 pm
Reply to  LJ_602

I would definitely say that “What are you going to do when you’re not saving the world?” is the nearest thing that COULD have been described as Superman’s theme in Man Of Steel. Used tremendously in the trailer. Used horrendously in the film. Only hinted at during the actual film and then played properly at the end when it was far too late. The tune for me completely captures a sense of hope, positivity and adventure. Things that for me seemed too absent in the actual film. The death and destruction at the end portraying basically 5 9/11s then all… Read more »

sundevil82
sundevil82
June 15, 2017 8:03 pm
Reply to  LJ_602

i was referring more to the whole soundtrack of MOS. There are some beautiful tracks on there even if they’re not a specific Superman theme. ‘Look to the Stars’ ‘DNA’ ‘Goodbye my son’ ‘if you love these people’ ‘terraforming’ ‘what are you going to do…’ And my personal favorite ‘flight’. While none of these were a specific theme, I thought they worked really well for the film and character. Just from a musical standpoint, I enjoy MoS. Much, much more than BvS because I did not care for the Junkie XL contributions on that (which I think was most of… Read more »

LJ_602
LJ_602
June 16, 2017 11:18 am
Reply to  sundevil82

Either way I wouldn’t get my hopes up. I agree that the score to Man of Steel is outstanding and arguably some of Hans Zimmer’s best work. However, I don’t feel he really was really that much in to doing Batman v Superman and really didn’t have many opportunities to shine like he did in MoS. I mean he didn’t want to touch any Batman related scenes either, he just let XL do them and retired from the superhero genre after it. But I digress, Elfman is very brass heavy as where the MoS soundtrack was very percussion and string… Read more »

Kal-Elvis
June 16, 2017 1:30 pm
Reply to  sundevil82

Elfman is pretty good at morphing to fit a theme, though – when I heard the score for Fifty Shades of Grey (as an example), I had no idea it was Elfman. He does have a sort of sweeping tone that goes on much of his material, and I think maybe he’s been brought in to further elevate the tone of Justice League to be more uplifting. Or maybe they’re using Junkie XL for some things and not fully replacing him (just that he’s been replaced for some of the movie, not all of it?) It’ll be interesting to see… Read more »

supergepetto
supergepetto
June 14, 2017 11:41 pm

Elf an is an excellent choice. His score will h

supergepetto
supergepetto
June 14, 2017 11:43 pm

elnfman is an excellent choice to score the fil. He will bring. a stirring, dramatic and exciting tonerto the film.

supergepetto
supergepetto
June 14, 2017 11:46 pm

Elfman is an excellent choice to score the film. He will bring a stirring, dramatic and atmospheric feel to the film.

Kal-Ed
June 15, 2017 4:05 am

Wow. Didn’t see that coming. I love Danny’s Film scores. They’re as epic and moving and edgy as they come.

I also love his Oingo Boingo days. Classic music. He should include one of his songs into the film.

zendog
zendog
June 15, 2017 9:50 am

Very interesting developments here. It appears to be a definite change of direction, not just in film score, but maybe this is a setting in motion for a change in mood and style for future films? I think Danny Elfman’s scores are great. Who knows what else DC might announce later. Have to say I think the franchise needs cheering up a fair bit.(Just a personal opinion)but I’ll reserve those comments for other movie speculation.

Randarch
Randarch
June 15, 2017 3:10 pm

Hmmm… if he leans more towards his “Flash” theme, and less towards his “Beetlejuice” theme, he might pull it off.

svillar13
svillar13
June 15, 2017 3:18 pm

Danny Elfman is an awesome choice. He should make a mash up of the theme from Man of Steel and John Williams Superman theme and make that Superman’s new theme when he returns from the dead. 🙂 Something lke this maybe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC4ChMClDLk 1:15 and after gave me goosebumps!

Adekis
Adekis
June 20, 2017 11:38 pm

I’m not thrilled.

MattComics
MattComics
June 25, 2017 7:36 am

The upside, less BWAM.

Downside, may be yet another phoned-in version of Batman ’89.