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Both books are essentially done. On Impossible Silence, we wrapped up editing last spring and completed music example engraving this summer. We are now finalizing end notes (which is no small task as there are easily a thousand). Layout will go quickly as this book is primarily text. Hobbit is written and assembled in a temp layout (and has been for some time), but won't go to final proofing/layout until the studio gives the go-ahead.

They could really wait and see what the critical/box office reception is like for film #1 before planning the 4 sequels.

"Gentleman, Don Williams has called all the heads of the film score families together to decide what to do about Mikey muscling in on Alexandre's job. Our friends from Europe are not pleased about these developments. Don Ennio from the old country has even threatened to pull out Herr Zimmer and all of the German family. The heirs of Jarre and Delerue demand retribution!" Don Bruce Broughton. "Look, we all love Mikey. He's like a son to me. But I promised the gig to Alexandre myself. How could this have happened?" - Don Williams "With all due respect Don Williams, but i say fuck em'! We don't need those Europeans. If Don Ennio pulls back Zimmer and his goons we can reclaim the scoring stages in Hollywood and Canada! I've spoken to Don Shore, he will support us of a war breaks out." - Don Bruce "What good is the support of a man who starts one chapter of a trilogy on his own, and then has to bring in an orchestrator?" - Don Williams "But Don Williams, even you...with The Force Awa..." - Don Bruce "That was different. At the time I could not divulge the truth, so I told Stevie to cook up some story about me getting a pacemaker. But they nearly got me, my friend." - Don Williams "Who would dare this?" - Don Bruce "Mikey...it was Mikey Giacchino. I asked him to swallow his pride and accept that I would score this one JJ Abrams film. He hugged me and kissed my head. But in his eyes I could see the hatred. Thats why he tried to kill me. Thats why he muscled out Alexandre." - Don Williams "My apologies Don Williams. But then we must deal with Mikey...tonight! The whole Newman family has pledged itself to you!" - Don Randy "Thank you, my friend. But I fear for the moment Mikey is beyond our reach. Disney needs him to finish some projects. We can't upset them and risk losing them to Herr Zimmer. I'm using all my influence to keep him away from the new Lion King." - Don Williams "Damn that fucking kraut stealing some of the best jobs. His Superman was a travesty. And a personal insult to you!" - John Ottman "Business is business. But our agent has been planted in the Zimmer family long ago. When the time comes our friend Mr. Holkenborg will deal with the German." - Don Williams "I swear it Don Williams! I hate those krauts! They stole my grandfathers bicycle in the war. And in 1974 they took the World Championship Football throphy from us, and never let us forget it!" - Don Holkenborg "Your loyalty means a lot to me, my friend. Go back to the Germans. But first visit Don Ennio and give him my regards, and apologies for what happened with Alexandre. Once we take care if Mikey, you will be the future of film music!" - Don Williams.

FSM says...

Glóin the Dark, I might have known you'd be the one to survive that mountain of food. I think the publisher is more ready to exploit the movie tie-ins for Tolkien's books as these things bring publicity and raise the sales but the estate does most of the time produce worthy additions for the fans from Tolkien's archives. I guess the target audience here is more those who might not otherwise peruse the History of Middle-earth series from cover to cover to find out about these various versions of Tolkien's tales and this is an opporturnity to present in condensed form all the relevant material on a single major part of the legendarium, just like with The Children of Húrin.

Always disappointed to see this thread bumped for something other than the PoA leak. Damn you all to hell.

Nothing super special, but I always enjoyed Hooper's cue for when the group flies off on the thestrals to save Sirius. One of the few cues from him that evoked a feeling of wonder for me.

Do you need to feel some connection to a film to fully appreciate the score? Do you associate the score with the film, and if visiting the film's themes and ideas when you listen doesn't interest you, does it lessen your desire to explore the score? Take a film like Tomorrowland for example. Let's say you're not interested in the film or its subject matter at all. Can you still appreciate and get into the score despite that? Or suppose it's The Terminal? Can you listen and judge it purely on its own merits without associating it with the thematic material the score represents? For example, if you were listening to "Making A Comeback" from Nixon, do you associate it with Nixon's comeback? Whether the music is appropriate for just making a comeback in life in general? Or is it simply a piece of music you judge on its own merits without reference to it's thematic inspiration? In other words, can you listen the way you would traditional classical music? What say you?!

Rowling's abilities as an author are quite simple to assess: she is good at spinning existing tropes and archetypes into seemingly new, catchy ideas, and obviously her concepts have lots of appeal. But the execution of all this is at times laughably awful, most often, just passable. They are light, fluffy confections, as are the films, and that's why after the third one, after they tried to move away from lightness and fluffiness, it became obvious just how little there really is underneath the enchanting trappings.

Well, it wouldn't be ideal... Luckily it looks like MrJosh will come through for me with his more complete edit. But thanks for offering.

Enjoy! It's really cool to see this live! Kinda funny to see some of the instruments used, when you're so used to seeing a "regular" orchestra. Man I love this piece. But my God either the performance or acoustics/mix or both are atrocious compared to the film recording. For example, the bass is way too loud and everything else way too low. In terms of performance, I'm sure it's a very difficult piece, of course.

I'm typically not a big fan of celebrities reading audiobooks, they tend to take me out of the story, but yeah Lee is great in that, and Stephen Fry's Harry Potter audiobooks are excellent, as is Jim Dale (who is also English) in the American versions.

No but he did record some passages from both the Hobbit and LotR

Starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the History of the Ring theme.

Silence: First look at Adam Driver in Martin Scorsese's newest film Andrew Garfield is also in the picture, not sure why the headline singled out just Driver.

Normally I'd agree with you, and I was actually about to post a similar comment about the Tolkien industry pumping out another product. But when I think about it, I really don't believe the Tolkien estate has abused the fans the way, for example, the studios do with multiple DVD/BD releases of the same films. They're offering something new with these releases in terms of editorial content and artwork, and frankly they know the market for these books is pretty much limited to Tolkien fanatics and scholars. They don't "need" to put out these books, and I think most Tolkien lovers are happy to get them. In fact, contrasted with the marketing tie-in's for the films, I think these new volumes are being handled tastefully and actually with some restraint.

Coming next May!!

Its not like she has previous with long arcing storings like a beloved seven book series behind her. Long ranging plots over over multiple stories is just something JK Rowling doesn't have any experience in.

I mean, I'd rather she know where she was actually going with it if they're really going to go all-in. I don't see how it's a bad thing that she has an idea what films 3-5 would be while writing film 2. It'd be embarrassing if the whole thing got canned after this year but at least this announcement came from the person who's writing everything and she doesn't make it sound like 5 is some arbitrary number...if anything it seems like it was more vague when it was only 3. That's when I tend to cringe, when buzzwords like "trilogy" and "cinematic universe" are just thrown around with absolutely no indication that there are actual stories in mind. "We'll figure it out later."

Stanley & Iris by John Williams: A nice small scale dramatic score from the Maestro in the gentle and muted pastoral Americana mode from his late 80's/early 90's branching out period, when he was clearly seeking a way out of being typecasted as "Mr. Sturm und Drang" after such success with big blockbuster franchises. The composer of course, rather than doing outlandish experiments with what he calls "synthesized sound sources" or going entirely avant garde, would continue to employ mostly symphonic palette but often in smaller scale. Flute, piano and trumpet are offered solo parts among the chamber-sized ensemble consisting of mostly strings and woodwinds which lends a suitably intimate feel to this short but sweet album. Williams crafts a couple of earthy and unassuming main melodies that intertwine during the score and there is mostly a warm sunny vernal sheen to the whole affair with occasional more dramatic gesture but this score stays mostly lyrical and on the quiet side. It is a smaller effort from the composer sure, but it makes for a nice relaxing listening experience with a terrific Williams-esque End Title that sums up the whole thing rather perfectly.

Spider-Man 3

The "Sophie's Theme" piano solo piece from Hal Leonard includes the material starting here: ... and lasts until at least 7:20 or so. So perhaps that is confirmation of what some, including @king mark, have suspected for a while: That Sophie's theme has two parts -- one being the "main theme" and the other being the melancholy theme.

Hoo boy am I glad that wasn't included in the movie.

Many many scores that I enjoy while not caring one way or another about the film. Hell, you can't be a Goldsmith fan without that mentality!

Heh. Listened to Secret Weapons Over Normandy this morning, and I got inklings that the shrill brass and tumbling melodies could really suit a good old-fashioned X-Wing battle; and that Medal Of Honor's ground-battle tempo could have a good run-in. I'd like the Rebel theme to take centre stage and even be developed forward (not truncated like so many reboot/soft-reboot/sequel scores tend to). Not that I want a recycled sound, I'm sure (given time) he could make this soar while keeping depth...but it's not a given.

I wonder if the theme was artificially slowed-down when it returns to the main Star Trek theme at 2:21. So I did a test and sped up that entire section to match the original's tempo. I quite like the timpani mix in the Beyond version of the theme, but the Into Darkness version is definitely the superior recording and mix overall.

Rubbish. The proposition that Star Trek is better than everything is based on empirical evidence, carefully weighing the merits of Star Trek vs. everything else in the known universe, and coming to the conclusion that it is indeed superior to all other known phenomena (though pizza came in a close second). The results of this study have been peer reviewed and published. On the other hand, the suggestion that "Everything is better than Star Trek" is just a thoughtless internet meme that has no basis in reality or the scientific method. So say we all. You're just making this up. Please offer proof of this assertion.

He he he, your feelings are hurt because Obama doesn't list Interstellar. So transparent you are ...

Every time I see one of these lists of a politicians favourite movies/music/tv shows/books I wonder about the aides who put it together, and how much thought went into making sure it was balanced enough with popular favourites, classics, under appreciated gems, etc.

I'm sorry, but as a rule, I never punch scholars. You're lucky, because I'd kick your ass. Well, if I misremembered, then my bad! Fair enough, I guess. Good, that's good. We're slowly getting there! Oh, and if you've listened to the first score, then you've already heard most of the second score anyway! That's fine, but now, you've been warned. Next time, there won't be another warning!

Great post Will! Very informative. I read another article that basically said that the only reason Lucas threw together treatments for 7, 8 & 9 at all was to increase the perceived value of the franchise once Disney became interested...there are suggestions the he led Disney to believe he had completed story treatments when he actually didn't. Which given GL's procrastination and hatred of writing rings true to me. I have no doubt he had ideas in his head, and maybe some rough ideas scribbled about somewhere. But remember the early stories, before the news of the sale to Disney broke, about how LucasFilm was gearing up for a new trilogy? All that pre-pre-production was apparently done to increase the value of the company to perspective suitors, and didn't represent a real desire by Lucas to make the films himself. Really interested in TFA making of book, had no idea something like that was even in the cards. Is Rintzler writing it? I'm still waiting for a comprehensive Making of LOTR book as well.

Please leave the moderating to the moderators!

Please keep your campaigning for the America Thread, Drax. Self-assigned deputy moderator Alex

By the fifth film they'll be black & white with no music at all!

Same here! This and the female vocal part to the track before it, House of Judgement, really to me seem like score highlights for the year. That swell of the main theme at 1:36 alongside those aggressive outbursts of the theme from the original is just sublime. Fantastic track selection. Definitely one of my favorites by him. I love it whenever Horner unabashedly goes all out on trying to achieve max emotional potency.

I like PHANTOM MENACE too, he, he....seems like I like to stick up for all those films that everyone else hates.

You are basically correct. And if the films are shit...no one is forcing us to watch them!

I say the more films the merrier. If they're shite then I just wont care, and if they're good, then cool. There are plenty of stories to tell within Rowling's world, so have at it. Marvel are doing the same, so are Disney with Star Wars, and same with Star Trek etc. There are always stories to tell, so if the films attract good box office then it means people want them. Supply and demand is the entire basis of the film industry.

The money goes to a great cause: 'The Fans of Alexandre Desplat .'

The 5th movie will of course be split into 2 parts. Part 5 1 and Part 5 2. And Part 5 1 will hit a billion and will end with a cliff-hanger. So that Part 5 2 will be split into 7 parts, one for each hour of the finale. New characters introduced in Part 5 2 6 will span their own movie universe. The 4th movie in the franchise spawned from Part 5 2 6 will be spun off into a TV series. The new character in the Season 4 Episode 17 will then get there own spin-off. Rowling has all this figured out.

Sit In On a Scoring Session Composer Michael Giacchino Neat!

I agree. For years this "weaponised raptors" used by the military story has floated around, since JP2 I believe, and I always cringed when I read about it. The reality is, as interesting as it is, you can only do so much with this concept. It's why Crichton didn't want to write a sequel in the first place, and only did so under pressure from Spielberg (who repaid the favour by quickly jettisoning most of his book). In fact the wonder and awe was pretty much gone after the first film, which is why the second two films were of declining quality, and why Jurassic World was essentially a remake. So right now they're where they were after the first one, with no where to go. Just another example of something that should be left alone.

Uncool bro!

I'd watch a film about this guy and his planet. http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Max_Rebo/Legends The Max Rebo Story starring Jonah Hill.