Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) Score Details – JOHN WILLIAMS Fan Network

This page will be updated as new details of John Williams’ score for the film are revealed.

Last update: Director James Mangold asked JW for “big fat album” for Indy 5 with “as many cues as John can bear,” also describes score & sound mix (February 25, 2023)

INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY (2023)
Music Composed and Conducted by John Williams

Release dates
June 2023 (Original Soundtrack Album) – June 28-30, 2023 (Film)
Label: Disney Records

Score Details

“[John Williams] has written and conducted 2 hours of brilliant music, at least 60+ cues. Maybe there are one or two small pieces left behind but it’s a huge score and 99% in the film.” (James Mangold) – Discussion
“It’s certainly got to be an hour and a half of music, maybe more,” Williams estimates. “But I’m quite happy with it. There’s a lot of new material. The old material works very well as a touchstone of memory, but I had great fun, and I have a theme that I’ve written for Phoebe Waller-Bridge [Helena’s Theme] (John Williams) – Discussion
“The best part of it for me is the writing and the interplay of dialogue between Harrison and Phoebe, like the old-style Hepburn-and-Tracy kind of bickering. It’s witty and bright and snappy, like a duet that goes on for two hours.” (John Williams)
The Indiana Jones scores, Williams notes, “are unified by Indy’s theme, and the general style of the film, which is in my mind a kind of action-comedy, because you never take the action seriously. It’s certainly a swashbuckling affair from beginning to end, fashioned more like movies of the ’30s and ’40s where the orchestra is racing along with the action, which you wouldn’t do in contemporary films very much.” (John Williams)
“It’s almost 2 hours of glorious JW score — heroic, bombastic, sly, majestic, sinister, romantic & screwball!” (James Mangold) – Discussion
John Williams’ music is “front and center in the film mix” (James Mangold)

Album Details

“I’ve impressed on the great sweet maestro & his team the wish for release of a big fat album w/ as many cues as John can bear, but ultimately it is up to him!” (James Mangold) – Discussion

Composition

On June, 2016, Steven Spielberg announced that Williams would return for the fifth Indiana Jones film.
On June 9, 2021, Lucasfilm officially confirmed via its social media platforms that John Williams would be the composer of the score.
Williams read the script early in 2021, and started writing the score in October of that year.

Recording

Recording sessions started on June 28, 2022 and ended on February 10, 2023 at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California. – Discussion
On Friday, February 10, John Williams and Anne-Sophie Mutter recorded an arrangement for violin and orchestra of Helena’s Theme – Discussion

Live Performances

John Williams premiered Helena’s Theme at the Maestro of the Movies concert at the Hollywood Bowl (September 2-4, 2022, World Premiere), and at the Filarmonica della Scala, Milan (December 12, 2022, European Premiere).
Williams and Anne-Sophie Mutter premiered the new arrangement for violin and orchestra in San Francisco on September 14, 2023. – Discussion

VIDEOS (LIVE PERFORMANCES)

Helena’s Theme

September 2, 2022 – Hollywood Bowl (World Premiere)