ComposerHans Zimmerhas been out of the superhero movie game for a few years now, but it appears he’s ready to come out of “retirement.” When he signed on to scoreBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, be brought on composerJunkie XLto ensure he wouldn’t be repeating his work fromChristopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy. Additionally, he lent his talents toThe Amazing Spider-Man 2andMan of Steel, spending over a decade within the biggest genre around. But in March 2016, Zimmersaid that he had “officially retired”from the superhero business followingBatman v Superman.
The composer moved on to other things, including the Oscar-nominatedDunkirkand the stellarBlade Runner 2049, but he’ll be back in the superhero realm this November with writer/directorSimon Kinberg’sX-Men: Dark Phoenix. Indeed, we at Collider had heard rumblings that Zimmer might be scoring the 20th Century Fox superhero film, and co-starEvan Petersseemed to confirm the news while appearing onJosh Horowitz’s podcastHappySadConfusedat Sundance, where he also discussed his excitement at Kinberg’s approach to the sequel:
“[The set] was actually very tame. Simon directed this one, and came in very prepared, very professional. It was a different energy on set and everything got done like clockwork. It was very seamless. Everybody was a little bit more level-headed, so it was a very pleasurable, light experience. I think the film is gonna be incredible. Hans Zimmer’s scoring it—I don’t know if I was supposed to say that or not. Simon has surrounded himself with incredible people, and Simon knows this world better than anybody, so it was just cool to see him—he’s so happy and in his element in that world, and also being able to direct and guide everybody in this way. I was very happy for him and I think it’s gonna be great.”
These comments stand in contrast to the chaos onBryan Singer’s setsforX-Men: Days of Future PastandX-Men: Apocalypse, and fans are mighty eager to see how Kinberg differentiatesDark Phoenixwith what will be his directorial debut.
Securing Zimmer to compose the score is certainly a step in an exciting direction, and given that the composer came out of a self-imposed retirement from an entire genre to do this, one imagines there’s something here that really intrigued him. We’ll find out whenX-Men: Dark Phoenixopens in theaters on November 2nd.
Listen to the full podcast interview, which is a great conversation, below. TheX-Mentalk starts around the 28-minute mark.
