THE TOP FORTY COUNTDOWN 2003, PART SIX: THE EPIC CONCLUSION
Even More Hollywood Composers, And What They Have (Or
Haven't) Been Up To
By Scott Bettencourt
ANGELO BADALAMENTI
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation--71 (U.S. Gross in Millions)
2. A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 3: Dream Warriors--44
3. The Beach--39
4. Arlington Road--24
5. Cousins--22
6. Wild at Heart--14
7. Blue Velvet--8
8. Mulholland Drive--7
9. The Straight Story--6
10. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me--4
Badalamenti was replaced on Identity by Alan Silvestri, a fate
that befell him twelve years ago on Shattered. Probably because
of his work with David Lynch, Badalamenti is getting typecast as the composer
for films dealing with off-beat sexuality -- Auto Focus, Secretary.
For film music fans who relish composers' onscreen cameos, Badalamenti's
role as the picky espresso drinker in Mulholland Drive is an all-time
classic, topping even Jerry Goldsmith's frozen yogurt stand customer in
Gremlins 2.
WHAT'S NEXT: Resistance
BRUCE BROUGHTON
1 OSCAR NOMINATION
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Lost in Space--69
2. Honey, I Blew Up the Kid--58
3. Tombstone--56
4. Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey--41
5. Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco--32
6. Silverado--32
7. Harry and the Hendersons--29
8. The Rescuers Down Under--27
9. The Presidio--20
10. Betsy's Wedding--19
No recent feature work, alas, but working steadily in television with
two recent MOWs: Lucy, and Eloise at the Plaza.
BT
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. The Fast and the Furious--144
2. Driven--32
3. Go--16
No new scores since Fast and the Furious -- the job of scoring
the sequel went to director John Singleton's composer David Arnold, who
coincidentally replaced BT on Zoolander.
TEDDY CASTELLUCCI
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Big Daddy--163
2. Anger Management--131 (as of 5/26/03)
3. Mr. Deeds--126
4. The Wedding Singer--80
5. Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo--65
6. The Animal--57
7. Little Nicky--39
8. Adam Sandler's 8 Crazy Nights--23
Huge hits any composer (or at least, any composer's agent) would envy,
but still stuck as just That Adam Sandler Composer (with occasional breaks
as That Rob Schneider Guy).
GEORGE S. CLINTON
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Austin Powers in Goldmember--213
2. Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me--205
3. The Santa Clause 2--139
4. Mortal Kombat--70
5. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery--53
6. Mortal Kombat: Annihilation--35
7. Beverly Hills Ninja--31
8. Wild Things--30
9. 3000 Miles to Graceland--15
10. Still Smokin'--15
Two smash hit sequels in 2002 (Goldmember and Santa Clause),
but despite his varied work for TV, no sign of moving beyond comedies.
It may just be Clinton's destiny to be typecast -- years ago his main scoring
jobs were Cannon action films like American Ninja.
WHAT'S NEXT: Mortal Kombat 3: Domination
BILL CONTI
1 OSCAR, 3 NOMINATIONS
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Rocky III--125
2. Rocky--117
3. The Karate Kid, Part II--115
4. The Karate Kid--90
5. Rocky II--85
6. Private Benjamin--69
7. The Thomas Crown Affair--69
8. For Your Eyes Only--54
9. Rookie of the Year--53
10. Broadcast News--51
No big features since 1999's hit Thomas Crown Affair for the
perpetually underrated Conti, just oddities like Tortilla Soup (a
Latino remake of Eat Drink Man Woman) and Avenging Angelo
(yet another Stallone pic gone straight to video), as well as a fairly
regular gig conducting the Oscars.
MICHAEL CONVERTINO
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. The Santa Clause--144
2. Jungle 2 Jungle--59
3. Bull Durham--50
4. The Doctor--38
5. Children of a Lesser God--31
6. Guarding Tess--27
7. Bed of Roses--19
8. Milk Money--18
9. Dance With Me--15
10. The Hidden--9
His only recent film, Liberty Stands Still (basically Phone
Booth again, with Linda Fiorentino and Wesley Snipes as Colin Farrell
and Forest Whitaker) went directly to video.
ANNE DUDLEY
1 OSCAR
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. The Crying Game--62
2. The Full Monty--45
3. A Man Apart--26
4. Say Anything--20
5. Disorderlies--10
6. Pushing Tin--8
7. Hiding Out--7
8. American History X--6
9. Monkeybone--5
10. The Mighty Quinn--4
Works regularly in features and TV, but her reteaming with Full Monty
director Peter Cattaneo, the prison comedy Lucky Break, came and
went with nary a ripple.
CLIFF EIDELMAN
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country--74
2. The Lizzie McGuire Movie--37 (as of 5/26/03)
3. Now and Then--27
4. One True Thing--23
5. Leap of Faith--23
6. Untamed Heart--18
7. My Girl 2--17
8. Crazy People--13
9. Christopher Columbus: The Discovery--8
10. The Meteor Man--8
I'd say that Eidelman finally has the hit movie he deserves, but he
deserves a lot better than The Lizzie McGuire Movie. (I know, I haven't
seen it, but how good can it be? It's THE LIZZIE MCGUIRE MOVIE!!!!!)
RICHARD GIBBS
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Dr. Dolittle--144
2. Big Momma's House--117
3. Like Mike--51
4. 10 Things I Hate About You--38
5. 28 Days--37
6. Son-in-Law--36
7. I Spy--35
8. Queen of the Damned--30
9. First Kid--26
10. Say Anything--20
Queen of the Damned was a rare venture outside of comedy for
the Oingo Boingo vet, and produced something even rarer for the composer
-- a score CD. Being Betty Thomas' composer of choice means Gibbs works
steadily, even though they, like all of us, would have been better off
without I Spy.
WHAT'S NEXT: If You Were My Girl
NICK GLENNIE-SMITH
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. The Rock--134
2. We Were Soldiers--74
3. The Man in the Iron Mask--56
4. Home Alone 3--28
5. Fire Down Below--16
6. Two If By Sea--10
No new movies in the year since We Were Soldiers; surprisingly,
doesn't work as steadily as most of the Media Ventures bunch.
HARRY GREGSON-WILLIAMS
2002 RANKING: 32
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Shrek--263
2. Enemy of the State--111
3. Spy Kids--111
4. Chicken Run--106
5. Antz--90
6. Spy Game--60
7. Phone Booth--45 (as of 5/26/03)
8. The Borrowers--22
9. The Replacement Killers--19
10. Light It Up--5
He's become Joel Schumacher's composer of choice (a title once held
by the likes of James Newton Howard and Elliot Goldenthal), but Schumacher
tends toward smaller films these days. Sometime partner John Powell is
having an impressive hit streak, while Gregson-Williams is scoring his
first Dreamworks animated feature without Powell, Sinbad.
WHAT'S NEXT: Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, Veronica Guerin
DAVE GRUSIN
1 OSCAR, 8 NOMINATIONS
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Tootsie--177
2. The Firm--158
3. On Golden Pond--118
4. The Graduate--104
5. The Goodbye Girl--92
6. Heaven Can Wait--81
7. The Electric Horseman--61
8. The Goonies--61
9. Hope Floats--60
10. Tequila Sunrise--41
No new feature scores in four years, since Random Hearts. Retired
from movies?
DAVID HIRSCHFELDER
2 OSCAR NOMINATIONS
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Hanging Up--36
2. Shine--35
3. Elizabeth--30
4. Sliding Doors--11
5. Strictly Ballroom--11
No new American films since Hanging Up, which, though his highest
grosser, is considered a flop.
DAVID HOLMES
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Ocean's Eleven--183
2. Out of Sight--37
Was replaced on two movies -- Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
(by Alex Wurman) and The Perfect Score (by John Murphy).
WHAT'S NEXT: Buffalo Soldiers
MAURICE JARRE
3 OSCARS, 9 NOMINATIONS
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Ghost--217
2. Fatal Attraction--156
3. Doctor Zhivago--111
4. Dead Poets Society--95
5. Witness--68
6. A Walk in the Clouds--50
7. Firefox--46
8. Lawrence of Arabia--38 (approx)
9. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome--36
10. Taps--35
No features released in the U.S. since Sunshine in 2000.
TREVOR JONES
2002 RANKING: 35
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Notting Hill--116
2. Cliffhanger--84
3. The Last of the Mohicans--75
4. Sea of Love--56
5. Arachnophobia--53
6. G.I. Jane--48
7. The Dark Crystal--40
8. Crossroads--37
9. Thirteen Days--34
10. Mississippi Burning--34
Not heard from much lately on the big screen (besides the modest surprise
hit Crossroads), but The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
could change that.
WHAT'S NEXT: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
JAN A.P. KACZMAREK
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Unfaithful--52
2. Lost Souls--16
3. Washington Square-1
The moderate success of Unfaithful has yet to turn Kaczmarek
into a Hollywood composer, though he is scoring an upcoming biopic of Peter
Pan author James M. Barrie with Johnny Depp in the lead.
WHAT'S NEXT: Neverland
DAVID KITAY
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Scary Movie--157
2. Look Who's Talking--140
3. Clueless--56
4. Dude, Where's My Car--46
5. Look Who's Talking Too--46
6. A Night at the Roxbury--30
7. Can't Hardly Wait--25
8. Problem Child 2--24
9. Jury Duty--16
10. Loser--15
Still always hired as That Broad Comedy Guy -- the deserved acclaim
for Ghost World has yet to change that.
MARK MANCINA
2002 RANKING: 34
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Twister--241
2. Tarzan--171
3. Speed--121
4. Con Air--101
5. Training Day--76
6. Bad Boys--65
7. Speed 2: Cruise Control--47
8. Domestic Disturbance--44
9. Money Train--35
10. Assassins--30
Despite the success of Training Day has maintained a lower profile
of late, while Bad Boys 2 should be a big hit -- though not a prime
scoring opportunity.
WHAT'S NEXT: Bad Boys 2
CLINT MANSELL
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Murder by Numbers--31
2. Abandon--10
3. Requiem For a Dream--3
4. Pi--3
Working steadily, but films like Abandon and Sonny won't
do much for anyone's resume.
WHAT'S NEXT: Suspect Zero, 11:14
CLIFF MARTINEZ
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Traffic--124
2. sex, lies and videotape--24
3. Solaris--14
4. Pump Up the Volume--11
5. Narc--10
6. The Limey--3
7. King of the Hill--1
8. Kafka--1
Solaris was a pretty exercise in orchestral minimalism, but the
movie was widely hated. Narc got better reviews, but had the kind
of ambient score that pleases directors more than listeners.
RICHARD MARVIN
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. U-571--77
2. 3 Ninjas--29
3. 3 Ninjas Kick Back--11
No big movies since U-571, whose director Jonathan Mostow made
Terminator 3 without him. Works regularly in TV, especially on Six
Feet Under.
JOEL MCNEELY
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Holes--60 (as of 5/26/03)
2. Return to Neverland--48
3. The Jungle Book II--47
4. Vegas Vacation--36
5. The Avengers--23
6. Iron Will--21
7. Flipper--20
8. Terminal Velocity--16
9. Supercop--16
10. Soldier--14
Working for Disney is paying off -- both his animated films were modest
hits, and Holes is his highest grosser yet, though it deserved to
do much better.
ALAN MENKEN
8 OSCARS, 15 NOMINATIONS
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Aladdin--217
2. Beauty and the Beast--145
3. Pocahontas--141
4. The Little Mermaid--111
5. The Hunchback of Notre Dame--100
6. Hercules--99
7. Life With Mikey--12
Once he dominated animated films as well as the music Oscars, but he's
been absent from the screen for a while -- probably busy counting his money
and laughing maniacally as his Oscars loom over him like gargoyles. Is
finally returning to his chosen genre with Disney's upcoming Home on
the Range.
WHAT'S NEXT: Home on the Range
ENNIO MORRICONE
2002 RANKING: 25
5 OSCAR NOMINATIONS
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. In the Line of Fire--102
2. Disclosure--83
3. The Untouchables--76
4. Wolf--65
5. Mission to Mars--60
6. Bugsy--49
7. Casualties of War--18
8. Love Affair--18
9. Frantic--17
10. The Mission--17
Morricone is as respected as ever, but he's dropped off the top 40 simply
because he hasn't scored an American film in three years.
MARK MOTHERSBAUGH
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Rugrats: The Movie--100
2. Rugrats in Paris--76
3. The Royal Tenenbaums--50
4. Happy Gilmore--38
5. The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle--26
6. Rushmore--17
7. A Guy Thing--15
8. Dead Man on Campus--15
9. Sugar & Spice--13
10. Drop Dead Gorgeous--10
Alas, the dry wit and charm Mothersbaugh brings to his Wes Anderson
scores is nowhere to found in crass comedies like A Guy Thing. But
someday Anderson will make another film.
MICHAEL NYMAN
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. The Piano--40
2. Gattaca--12
3. The End of the Affair--10
4. The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover--7
5. Carrington--3
6. Ravenous--2
Replaced on The Hours (by fellow minimalist Philip Glass), concentrating
on concert work and European films.
BASIL POLEDOURIS
TOP GROSSING FILMS
1. The Hunt For Red October--122
2. Free Willy--77
3. The Blue Lagoon--56 (approx)
4. Starship Troopers--54
5. RoboCop--53
6. Breakdown--50
7. Under Siege 2: Dark Territory--50
8. Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book--43
9. Conan the Barbarian--39
10. Hot Shots! Part Deux--38
Poledouris was replaced by Michael Kamen on the Costner Western Open
Range, and The Touch seems in no hurry to get released in the
U.S. But his fans love him just as much as ever.
RICHARD ROBBINS
2 OSCAR NOMINATIONS
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Howards End--25
2. The Remains of the Day--23
3. A Room With a View--20
4. Mr. and Mrs. Bridge--7
5. The Golden Bowl--3
6. Jefferson in Paris--2
7. Maurice--2
8. Surviving Picasso--2
9. A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries--1
10. Heat and Dust--1
A rare venture outside the Merchant-Ivory fold, the terrific French
drama Place Vendome, featured a score nearly identical to his Merchant-Ivory
efforts, and the released movie even featured several of his M-I cues tracked
in. He has a new film imminent -- from Merchant-Ivory, natch.
WHAT'S NEXT: Le Divorce
WILLIAM ROSS
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Tin Cup--53
2. The Little Rascals--52
3. T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous--43
4. My Dog Skip--34
5. Black Sheep--32
6. My Fellow Americans--22
7. Tuck Everlasting--19
8. The Evening Star--12
9. Look Who's Talking Now--10
10. The Amazing Panda Adventure--7
His collaboration with Williams on the smash hit Harry Potter
sequel is hardly likely to hurt Ross's career, but I doubt anyone thinks
of him as the composer of the film (which is why I didn't list it among
his top grossers).
THE TOP FORTY COUNTDOWN: THE HOME GAME
As if this column didn't feature enough trivia, here is a different
list of Top Forty composers: ranked by the combined grosses of their ten
highest grossing films. Not scientific, I know, especially since I haven't
updated the top tens since they appeared in the recent columns. But if
you're curious, John Ottman is now up to 419 million, thanks to X2,
and Don Davis is at 714 million because of The Matrix Reloaded (which
after less than two weeks is already his highest grossing film).
TOP FORTY BY BOXOFFICE:
1. JOHN WILLIAMS - 3.453 billion
2. JAMES HORNER - 2.102 billion
3. DANNY ELFMAN - 2.029 billion
4. ALAN SILVESTRI - 1.869 billion
5. HANS ZIMMER - 1.767 billion
6. HOWARD SHORE - 1.583 billion
7. JAMES NEWTON HOWARD - 1.574 billion
8. RANDY NEWMAN - 1.410 billion
9. JERRY GOLDSMITH - 1.297 billion
10. MICHAEL KAMEN - 1.259 billion
11. MARC SHAIMAN - 1.149 billion
12. DAVID NEWMAN - 1.148 billion
13. DAVID ARNOLD - 1.144 billion
14. ELMER BERNSTEIN - 1.021 billion
15. JOHN DEBNEY - 1.014 billion
16. JOHN POWELL - 989 million
17. DAVE GRUSIN - 953 million
18. MARK MANCINA - 931 million
19. RANDY EDELMAN - 928 million
20. THOMAS NEWMAN - 919 million
21. TREVOR RABIN - 878 million
22. LALO SCHIFRIN - 859 million
23. MAURICE JARRE - 852 million
24. HARRY GREGSON-WILLIAMS - 832 million
25. BILL CONTI - 828 million
26. ALAN MENKEN - 825 million
27. GEORGE S. CLINTON - 806 million
28. ELLIOT GOLDENTHAL - 797 million
29. JOHN BARRY - 793 million
30. TEDDY CASTELLUCCI - 684 million
31. GRAEME REVELL - 660 million
32. CARTER BURWELL - 602 million
33. BASIL POLEDOURIS - 582 million
34. GEORGE FENTON - 577 million
35. TREVOR JONES - 577 million
36. MARK ISHAM - 573 million
37. MARCO BELTRAMI - 563 million
38. DAVID KITAY - 555 million
39. EDWARD SHEARMUR - 539 million
40. RICHARD GIBBS - 534 million
And for additional trivia, here are all the currently
working composers who've scored Best Picture nominees. (I mean no disrespect
to other living composers such as Wendy Carlos, Laurie Johnson, Johnny
Mandel, Giorgio Moroder, John Morris, Andre Previn, and David Raksin, who
don't seem to be scoring features these days).
Best Picture winners are in boldface. Score nominees have one
asterix, winners have two.
BURT BACHARACH
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid**
JOHN BARRY
The Lion in Winter**
Midnight Cowboy
Out of Africa**
Dances With Wolves**
RICHARD RODNEY BENNETT
Nicholas and Alexandria*
Four Weddings and a Funeral
ELMER BERNSTEIN
The Ten Commandments
To Kill a Mockingbird*
My Left Foot
CARTER BURWELL
Fargo
BILL CONTI
Rocky
An Unmarried Woman
The Right Stuff**
Broadcast News
MICHAEL CONVERTINO
Children of a Lesser God
PATRICK DOYLE
Sense and Sensibility*
Gosford Park
ANNE DUDLEY
The Crying Game
The Full Monty**
DANNY ELFMAN
Good Will Hunting*
Chicago
GEORGE FENTON
Gandhi*
Dangerous Liaisons*
JERRY GOLDSMITH
Lilies of the Field
The Sand Pebbles*
Patton*
Chinatown*
L.A. Confidential*
DAVE GRUSIN
The Graduate
The Goodbye Girl
Heaven Can Wait*
On Golden Pond*
Reds
Tootsie
MARVIN HAMLSICH
The Sting**
Ordinary People
DAVID HIRSCHFELDER
Shine*
Elizabeth*
JAMES HORNER
The Dresser
Field of Dreams*
Apollo 13*
Braveheart*
Titanic**
A Beautiful Mind*
JAMES NEWTON HOWARD
The Prince of Tides*
The Fugitive*
The Sixth Sense
MARK ISHAM
Quiz Show
MAURICE JARRE
Lawrence of Arabia**
The Longest Day
Doctor Zhivago**
A Passage to India**
Witness*
Fatal Attraction
Dead Poets Society
Ghost*
TREVOR JONES
Mississippi Burning
In the Name of the Father
WOJCIECH KILAR
The Pianist
FRANCIS LAI
Love Story**
MICHEL LEGRAND
Atlantic City
CLIFF MARTINEZ
Traffic
ALAN MENKEN
Beauty and the Beast**
ENNIO MORRICONE
The Mission*
Bugsy*
RANDY NEWMAN
Awakenings
THOMAS NEWMAN
Scent of a Woman
The Shawshank Redemption*
American Beauty*
The Green Mile
Erin Brockovich
In the Bedroom
MICHAEL NYMAN
The Piano
RACHEL PORTMAN
The Cider House Rules*
Chocolat*
RICHARD ROBBINS
A Room With a View
Howards End*
The Remains of the Day*
LEONARD ROSENMAN
Barry Lyndon**
Bound For Glory**
LAURENCE ROSENTHAL
Becket*
PHILIPPE SARDE
Tess*
MARC SHAIMAN
A Few Good Men
DAVID SHIRE
The Conversation
All the President's Men
Norma Rae
HOWARD SHORE
The Silence of The Lambs
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring**
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Gangs of New York
ALAN SILVESTRI
Forrest Gump*
VANGELIS
Chariots of Fire**
Missing
JOHN WILLIAMS
Fiddler on the Roof**
The Towering Inferno*
Jaws**
Star Wars**
Raiders of the Lost Ark*
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial**
The Accidental Tourist*
Born on the Fourth of July*
JFK*
Schindler's List**
Saving Private Ryan*
GABRIEL YARED
The English Patient**
HANS ZIMMER
Rain Man*
Driving Miss Daisy
As Good As It Gets*
The Thin Red Line*
Gladiator*
FROM: "Jeffrey Thomas"
I really enjoy the annual Top 40 Countdown. If I can make
one suggestion, in future Top 40 lists could you also give the composers
musical education/background? Perhaps not in the minds of the studios,
but I think this is a factor in the composers' longevity in the field.
Goldsmith and Williams have classical and jazz roots and worked with the
masters (Herrmann, Waxman etc.) and they are still going strong. While
Danny Elfman was a "rock star" turned film composer, I think it's apparent
that he's running out of gas (others may disagree). Mark Mothersbaugh also,
another rock star turned film composer, though he has lots of films to
his credit I can't see him churning out a quality dramatic film score.
Brian Tyler, for example, he's a rising young film composer but aside from
his film credits I don't know anything about him. Is he from Julliard?
Is he another pop artist turned film composer?
Good idea. I'll try to include it in next year's edition, unless Lukas
has fired me by then for mouthing off once too often. (I'm just kidding.
Lukas will never fire me. Those photos in my safety deposit box will make
sure of that. How do you think a guy like me with no musical education
got this job?)
MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com
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