Danny Elfman celebrates Batman Day with a message to fans while working on the Justice League score. The hearts of geeks worldwide sank when Hans Zimmer announced his retirement from scoring comic book movies last year. After all, he composed the score for Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy, Man of Steel and Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice - including the iconic Wonder Woman theme song titled, "Is She With You."
While it's disappointing that Zimmer isn't working on what could be the biggest comic book movie since The Avengers, the fact that Zimmer's protege, Junkie XL (Mad Max: Fury Road) was set to compose to score for Justice League was a silver lining. In an unfortunate turn of events, Junkie XL was let go by Warner Bros. when Joss Whedon took over directorial reigns from Zack Snyder, who stepped down for personal reasons. It is assumed that Whedon wanted to work with someone he's collaborated with in the past. Enter Elfman, who worked with Whedon on Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Related: Danny Elfman On Board to Compose Justice League Score
In a video uploaded by DC onto YouTube [above], Elfman mentions that he's glad to be back in the DC family once again. He says:
Hi, I’m Danny Elfman, composer of the original Batman score. I’m now working on the film Justice League and I’m very happy to be back in the DC family. To everyone out there, I wish a happy Batman Day.
While the films within the Marvel Cinematic Universe may have been performed better with critics, as far as music is concerned, the DCEU takes the cake. This is largely due to the masterpieces produced by Zimmer and his protege, Junkie XL. So, replacing Junkie XL with Elfman seems a peculiar choice, especially considering Elfman's track record.
It's true that one would be foolish to question Elfman's legendary status in the industry. Elfman has four Oscar nominations - for the likes of Good Will Hunting, Men in Black, Big Fish and Milk - and even composed the iconic Batman 1989 theme, which won a Grammy Award. However, he hasn't done anything significant as of late. His work in Avengers: Age of Ultron isn't necessarily iconic. The same can be said about his work on The Circle, Fifty Shades Darker, The Girl on the Train and Goosebumps.
Whether or not we get great music in Justice League will largely depend on Elfman's work. Will it live up to the iconic Batman theme of 1989, or fall in line with his more recent serviceable work? In any case, it's great to see the man working to complete his composition well before Justice League's November release date.
Next: Zack Snyder Calls Ben Affleck the Best Batman Ever
Source: DC
