Mr. Gitz 85 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 So I’ve always been curious how much composers for the big blockbuster movies make. I mean... imagine being John Williams in his heyday? Almost every film you score becomes a monster hit, and the score albums themselves sell like hot cakes? So if Williams weren’t semi retired right now & I wanted him to score my film, what kind of fee are we talking about? Let’s be honest here, Star Wars without John Williams doesn’t become the major phenomenon it becomes. Same with Jaws. What’s that potential worth? Then we have guys who are always in demand like Hans Zimmer. Zimmer & his composer factory. What do you think he’s pulling down? Howard Shore is a composer I think about often. Where did he go? He only does these small indie films. All these crazy superhero movies getting made & not one person has thought “Hey, let’s get the guy who did the music for Lord of the Rings”. Who else would love a Shore superhero theme? So does anyone have any idea what these guys make for the big budget tentpole style scores? How much is a John Williams score worth to a producer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unlucky Bastard 7,782 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 I dunno. A couple a bob. Naïve Old Fart 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Jurassic Shark 12,063 Posted January 3, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted January 3, 2020 HanZ probably has to pay in order to be allowed to score. Kasey Kockroach, StarFox, TheUlyssesian and 1 other 1 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unlucky Bastard 7,782 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 9 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said: HanZ probably has to pay in order to be allowed to score. Ricard, Loert and Jurassic Shark 1 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crumbs 14,306 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 1 hour ago, Þekþiþm said: Yikes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bollemanneke 3,342 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 What makes you think any studios would want a Shore superhero score? Themes are not desirable anymore. And Jurassic Shark, that comment about Zimmer made me snort in a way I never have before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Shark 12,063 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 1 minute ago, bollemanneke said: What makes you think any studios would want a Shore superhero score? Themes are not desirable anymore. And Jurassic Shark, that comment about Zimmer made me snort in a way I never have before. I swear, I didn't see the double meaning until now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bollemanneke 3,342 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 What double meaning? Jurassic Shark 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not Mr. Big 4,639 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 Upwards of ten dollars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ddddeeee 247 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 I remember reading that Elfman got 2 million for Spider-Man 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLUMENKOHL 1,068 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 $2-4 million USD + negotiated royalties And that’s for Zimmer and Williams. Zimmer makes more these days, though John Williams makes a crap ton from a back-log library of insane royalties. The drop off is pretty steep from the top. The next biggest will probably make less than half that. Shore and Giacchino are probably in the sub $1m per picture. Easily. Down at the new known composers like Daniel Pemberton/Joseph Trapanese you’re probably looking at $25-100k per picture, depending on the picture. Down at the wannabes and newbies you’re looking at $50 or $1,000 or $2,500 per project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Shark 12,063 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 10 minutes ago, ddddeeee said: I remember reading that Elfman got 2 million for Spider-Man 2. Dollars? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naïve Old Fart 9,515 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 On the commentary for THE OMEN, Donner said that they had "no money", for the score. I'd be interested to hear how much JG was actually paid, for that score. I think that it fluctuates. JW probably clears a cool 2 mil plus royalties, but if it's a project that interests him, but there's little cash, I'm sure he'd lower his fee. It's better to score a film that has a personal attraction, for you, for a lower price, than to say "no" through sheer greed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheUlyssesian 2,478 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 JJ to Kathy and Iger: "Here's the JW score for Rise of Skywalker. Now let's shred it to pieces and tear it apart - we only paid 2 million dollars for it." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Shark 12,063 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 56 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said: On the commentary for THE OMEN, Donner said that they had "no money", for the score. I'd be interested to hear how much JG was actually paid, for that score. I think that it fluctuates. JW probably clears a cool 2 mil plus royalties, but if it's a project that interests him, but there's little cash, I'm sure he'd lower his fee. It's better to score a film that has a personal attraction, for you, for a lower price, than to say "no" through sheer greed. Yeah, but he's got to keep the money flowing, to pay for his expenses. High quality pencils, rubbers, premium sheet music, turtlenecks, and so on. And Bill Ross isn't exactly cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fabulin 3,511 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edmilson 7,434 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 1 hour ago, Naïve Old Fart said: I think that it fluctuates. JW probably clears a cool 2 mil plus royalties, but if it's a project that interests him, but there's little cash, I'm sure he'd lower his fee. It's better to score a film that has a personal attraction, for you, for a lower price, than to say "no" through sheer greed. Indeed. JW probably received way less for The Book Thief, Memoirs of a Geisha or even some smaller Spielberg movies (The Post, The Terminal, etc) than he received for any of the Star Wars sequels or KOTCS. On the case of The Book Thief, I've read that he campaign for him to score it because he loved the book, so I guess he probably accepted taking a smaller fee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gkgyver 1,645 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 1 hour ago, Jurassic Shark said: Yeah, but he's got to keep the money flowing, to pay for his expenses. High quality pencils, rubbers, premium sheet music, turtlenecks, and so on. And Bill Ross isn't exactly cheap. Only high quality rubbers for John scoring Daisy Ridley. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Shark 12,063 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 Are you implying there's more rubbing than usual when he scores Daisy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Penna 3,685 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 I would speculate (in an uninformed manner) that the fee will also depend on the length of the score and the size of the ensemble, as it affects how much time it will take the composer. According to the budget for The Village, JNH was paid $1.3 million, separately from all other music related costs. (The budget also specifies $300,000 for the rights to a song... not sure what song that's referring to) crumbs 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 2 hours ago, Edmilson said: Indeed. JW probably received way less for The Book Thief, Memoirs of a Geisha or even some smaller Spielberg movies (The Post, The Terminal, etc) than he received for any of the Star Wars sequels or KOTCS. On the case of The Book Thief, I've read that he campaign for him to score it because he loved the book, so I guess he probably accepted taking a smaller fee. Makes sense. Of course the vulgar bussines of money is handled by his agents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ddddeeee 247 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 Elfman is among the highest-paid composers, getting roughly $1.5 million per film, plus box office bonuses. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-jun-24-et-gold24-story.html On the other hand, Elfman got paid $1 (literally) for Freeway, Standard Operating Procedure, The Unknown Known, The End of the Tour.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crumbs 14,306 Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 6 hours ago, TheUlyssesian said: JJ to Kathy and Iger: "Here's the JW score for Rise of Skywalker. Now let's shred it to pieces and tear it apart - we only paid 2 million dollars for it." And that's only JW's composing fee, which was likely far higher for each of the news Star Wars films due to the prolonged writing schedule (nearly a year on each sequel). No doubt he receives a healthy percentage of the soundtrack profits as well. Then consider the cost of the music department, the musicians, the 100 piece choir, the copyists (formerly orchestrators), additional conductors, fees for booking the recording stage (for 11 days on TROS, longer on TFA), and so on. Easily another couple of million there. It stands to reason JW's fee would vary considerably per film (compare the time spent on Star Wars to The Post, where he wrote barely an hour of music in a few weeks). Presumably the exact fees are established after the first screening/spotting session of the film, so JW can work out how much score is required, how complex it will be, how long it will take to write, how large the orchestra needs to be, and how many days it will take to record the score. Then his agency calculates the costs from there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrbellamy 6,278 Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 12 hours ago, Mr. Gitz said: Howard Shore is a composer I think about often. Where did he go? He only does these small indie films. All these crazy superhero movies getting made & not one person has thought “Hey, let’s get the guy who did the music for Lord of the Rings”. Who else would love a Shore superhero theme? I’m sure he’s been asked. He probably says no to most of it. He did the third Twilight for whatever reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arpy 4,145 Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 I'm pretty sure Shore is more selective these days on who he works with. It would be interesting to know whether or not the studios are after him, or how many projects he's turned down. Everyone has a price eventually... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crumbs 14,306 Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 I think after the Hobbit situation, he's probably content being out of the studio system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gkgyver 1,645 Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 6 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said: Are you implying there's more rubbing than usual when he scores Daisy? Depends on how sharp he keeps his pencil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koray Savas 2,251 Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 Most big name composers will pull in a million or more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete 907 Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 14 hours ago, Mr. Gitz said: Howard Shore is a composer I think about often. Where did he go? He only does these small indie films. He's also been working on concert pieces. A guitar concerto premiered last May. Regarding Williams, I read somewhere that he made enough money to retire from Jaws. Does anyone know how much he usually gets for concerts he conducts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheUlyssesian 2,478 Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 16 hours ago, Mr. Gitz said: Howard Shore is a composer I think about often. Where did he go? He only does these small indie films. All these crazy superhero movies getting made & not one person has thought “Hey, let’s get the guy who did the music for Lord of the Rings”. Who else would love a Shore superhero theme? Great fucking question. They even got Horner to do a superhero film. But honestly he's too good for superhero trash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Shark 12,063 Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 Perhaps he chooses projects where his music is less likely to be ruined in editing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unlucky Bastard 7,782 Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 Someone with his qualifications, would have no trouble finding a topflight job in either the food service or housekeeping industries. Are you gonna answer that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
publicist 4,643 Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 14 hours ago, Naïve Old Fart said: On the commentary for THE OMEN, Donner said that they had "no money", for the score. I'd be interested to hear how much JG was actually paid, for that score. 25k Naïve Old Fart 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265 Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 And a gold plated figurine later on.... Naïve Old Fart 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unlucky Bastard 7,782 Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 I said "this is a horror picture, nobody goes to see these..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crumbs 14,306 Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 Good on Shore for not lowering himself to most of the crap Hollywood is churning out nowadays (okay, yeah, I have no idea why he did the third Twilight film either). But there's no reason he couldn't score some small indie dramas? Frankly I hope Williams goes the same way. Both composers are immensely talented. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oomoog the Ecstatic 314 Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 Wish Williams would choose better projects too. I don't get his film choices in the past 10 years. There are much better movies out there and I thought by now he'd be doing more his own thing. Less $ more reward. #UnpopularOpinion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crumbs 14,306 Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 He definitely doesn't need the money. Maybe his fear of younger directors expecting the type of turnaround that younger composers can provide (with digital composing) is holding him back? But apart from that, he only seems to care about Spielberg, Star Wars or book adaptations he enjoyed reading once. A shame all Spielberg has on the horizon is yet another Indiana Jones (that will almost assuredly be shit, judging by the desperation of bringing Koepp back into the fold). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
publicist 4,643 Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 The last thing on Williams mind after ca. 2000 was getting more or better movies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Gitz 85 Posted March 14, 2021 Author Share Posted March 14, 2021 On 1/4/2020 at 12:46 AM, The Big Man said: Someone with his qualifications, would have no trouble finding a topflight job in either the food service or housekeeping industries. Are you gonna answer that? He also collects spores moulds & fungus Jurassic Shark 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce marshall 1,315 Posted March 14, 2021 Share Posted March 14, 2021 Many composers are paid to produce a score. Meaning, they are responsible for all costs . They keep what's left over. Bernard Herrmann had it in his contract to get paid what Max Steiner got. PSYCHO , I think he got a measly $15,000. Btw Lucas gave JW a percentage bonus for SW. UNHEARD OF! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post karelm 2,913 Posted March 15, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted March 15, 2021 On 1/3/2020 at 6:29 PM, pete said: He's also been working on concert pieces. A guitar concerto premiered last May. Regarding Williams, I read somewhere that he made enough money to retire from Jaws. Does anyone know how much he usually gets for concerts he conducts? He donated his fee when he conducted in each state a few years ago. I think it was 2016-17 but otherwise probably gets around 50 to 100k per concert when he guests. That's on par with a world class soloist like Joshua Bell, Yo-yo Ma, or Yuja Wang. If he's on salary (like Boston Pops) it could still be substantial but by 1980's terms. I believe Gustavo Dudamel's salary is 2 million a year for the LA Phil and keep in mind he's a conductor of other orchestras too. Remember for most composers, the salary is on scale with the budget. Williams probably makes 1.5 to 2 million per film. Same with Zimmer but if they do something smaller like a Gus van Sant film, they might do it for peanuts. I think Richard Kraft said Danny Elfman did Good Will Hunting for 50k which is like free for him in the 90's. I recall James Newton Howard made 1.5 million for Signs so you can assume that's his going rate for big budget. Something like King Kong would probably be more, maybe twice that but require twice as much music and headache. Also, these composers make royalties on international broadcasts, tv, etc., and that can be substantial. I once deposited someone's quarterly royalty check and it was 500k. So imagine they make 2 million just from past projects. You could imagine someone like JW who always has something on TV somewhere gets twice that. Bayesian, pete and Fabulin 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fabulin 3,511 Posted March 15, 2021 Share Posted March 15, 2021 12 minutes ago, karelm said: He donated his fee when he conducted in each state a few years ago. I think it was 2016-17 but otherwise probably gets around 50 to 100k per concert when he guests. That's on par with a world class soloist like Joshua Bell, Yo-yo Ma, or Yuja Wang. If he's on salary (like Boston Pops) it could still be substantial but by 1980's terms. I believe Gustavo Dudamel's salary is 2 million a year for the LA Phil and keep in mind he's a conductor of other orchestras too. Remember for most composers, the salary is on scale with the budget. Williams probably makes 1.5 to 2 million per film. Same with Zimmer but if they do something smaller like a Gus van Sant film, they might do it for peanuts. I think Richard Kraft said Danny Elfman did Good Will Hunting for 50k which is like free for him in the 90's. I recall James Newton Howard made 1.5 million for Signs so you can assume that's his going rate for big budget. Something like King Kong would probably be more, maybe twice that but require twice as much music and headache. Also, these composers make royalties on international broadcasts, tv, etc., and that can be substantial. I once deposited someone's quarterly royalty check and it was 500k. So imagine they make 2 million just from past projects. You could imagine someone like JW who always has something on TV somewhere gets twice that. Things certainly have escalated... In 1931, Toscanini at the New York Philharmonic was paid 110k per year, which at the time the highest salary of a musician in the world. At the 17,3x conversion rate to today's dollars, that's... 1,9 million a year. And that was exclusive Toscanini, not shared Dudamel! Korngold at Warner Brothers received about a half of that a year, just under a million in today's money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Guernsey 2,283 Posted March 17, 2021 Share Posted March 17, 2021 I still find it slightly surprising there isn't at least one top film composer (Michael Giacchino, for example) who professes to love film music who has come forward as an angel investor for re-recordings. If I'd pulled in several million dollars in film scoring fees, I'd happily stump up for a long list of Tadlow recordings... relative to that kind of money, those re-recordings are cheap, plus you'd make at least some (if not all) of the money back eventually. Would make a fine contribution to helping preserve the art of film music. Back more squarely to the topic, I'm sure I read that JW did some negotiating for Jurassic Park which changed the game when it came to the fees composers were paid, although I can't quite remember how or what it was. Also surprised nobody has mentioned James Horner and Titanic which probably made him more money than everything else he ever wrote (maybe). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Shark 12,063 Posted March 17, 2021 Share Posted March 17, 2021 8 minutes ago, Tom Guernsey said: Back more squarely to the topic, I'm sure I read that JW did some negotiating for Jurassic Park which changed the game when it came to the fees composers were paid, although I can't quite remember how or what it was. I believe his angle to negotiation at the time was that a better composer was needed. 8 minutes ago, Tom Guernsey said: Also surprised nobody has mentioned James Horner and Titanic which probably made him more money than everything else he ever wrote (maybe). Was that because of the enormous CD sales? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Guernsey 2,283 Posted March 17, 2021 Share Posted March 17, 2021 9 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said: I believe his angle to negotiation at the time was that a better composer was needed. Was that because of the enormous CD sales? I assume your first comment rather relates to Schindler's List (although I would, probably wrongly, argue that it's actually technically harder to write something like Jurassic Park than Schindler's List - at least from a technical point of view). And yes, Titanic CD sales indeed... plus all the royalties from the song. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Shark 12,063 Posted March 17, 2021 Share Posted March 17, 2021 11 minutes ago, Tom Guernsey said: I assume your first comment rather relates to Schindler's List (although I would, probably wrongly, argue that it's actually technically harder to write something like Jurassic Park than Schindler's List - at least from a technical point of view). Nah, he did it for all his scoring jobs at the time. JW: You need a better composer. Producer: I know, but they're all dead. You're the best that's left. JW: That's right, schmuck, so you better pay well! Raiders of the SoundtrArk and Tom Guernsey 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naïve Old Fart 9,515 Posted March 17, 2021 Share Posted March 17, 2021 30 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said: I believe his angle to negotiation at the time was that a better composer was needed. They should have gone with Jerry Goldsmith, then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Shark 12,063 Posted March 17, 2021 Share Posted March 17, 2021 Or Roy Budd, since he was working at his magnum opus at the time. Just now, Tom Guernsey said: plus all the royalties from the song. I wonder how much that amounts to, excluding the royalties that was part of the CD sales. Smeltington 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edmilson 7,434 Posted March 17, 2021 Share Posted March 17, 2021 Horner got so rich with Titanic he pratically stopped doing blockbusters for a while. This probably explains why he spent his time between Titanic and Avatar doing small budget movies like House of Sand and Fog, Boy in the Stripped Pajamas, etc. MikeH 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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