The latest release from Quartet is an expanded edition of Hans Zimmer's score for the 1994 skydiving-thriller DROP ZONE, starring Wesley Snipes, Yancy Butler and Gary Busey, and directed by John Badman (not to be confused with the other 1994 skydiving thriller, Terminal Velocity).

Music Box has announced three new releases -- the fourth volume of their LES B.O. INTROUVABLES series of boxed-sets which compile music from previously unreleased scores, in this case Legitime violence (Jean-Marie Senia), Mesrine (Jean-Pierre Rusconi), Twist again a Moscou (Twist Again in Moscow), Mes meilleurs copains (both by Michel Goglat), Claude Chabrol's Le sang des autres (The Blood of Others), starring Jodie Foster, Michael Ontkean and Sam Neill (Mathieu Chabrol), Le crime d'amour (Jean Weiner) and L'empreinte des géants (The Imprint of Giants) (Karl-Heinz Schafer); two scores by French composer Nicolas Errera, MOUNTAIN CRY and MY OTHER HOME (aka Another Shot); and the latest in their Les Grandes Musiques du Petit Ecran series of TV scores, featuring two composed by Serge Franklin -- DES GRIVES AUX LOUPS [1984] and LE JUGE EST UNE FEMME: LE SECRET DE MARION [1995]. 

Be warned - the Les B.O. Introuvables releases tend to go out of print very quickly -- even I still don't yet have the first volume.

CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK

The Bear (re-issue) - Philippe Sarde - Music Box 
Die, Mommie, Die! - Dennis McCarthy - Dragon's Domain
Killer Party - John Beal - Dragon's Domain
King of the Wind (re-release) - John Scott - JOS
The Lee Holdridge Collection, Vol. 2 - Lee Holdridge - Dragon's Domain

Varese Sarabande has announced two new expanded limited edition CD Club releases -- ALONG CAME A SPIDER, the sequel to Kiss the Girls in which Morgan Freeman reprised his role as Alex Cross, with Jerry Goldsmith reuniting with The Edge director Lee Tamahori; and a two-disc edition of Brad Fiedel's score for Wes Craven's THE SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW, featuring an expanded and remastered version of Fiedel's score, plus the original soundtrack sequencing and unused music composed for the film by Michael Babatunde Olatunji.

CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK

Along Came a Spider: The Deluxe Edition - Jerry Goldsmith - Varese Sarabande CD Club
Bersaglio Mobile - Ivan Vandor - Digitmovies
Ed ora...raccomanda l'anima a dio! - Franco Bixio - Digitmovies
Face of a Fugitive - Jerry Goldsmith - Intrada Special Collection
Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan - Fred Mollin - La-La Land
Godzilla vs. Kong - Tom Holkenborg - WaterTower
I due evasi di Sing Sing - Ennio Morricone - Quartet 
I Malamondo - Ennio Morricone - Sugar/CAM 
The Man in the Hat - Stephen Warbeck - Quartet 
Mondo Cane - Riz Ortolani - Sugar/CAM 
Patria - Fernando Velazquez - Quartet 
The Serpent and the Rainbow: The Deluxe Edition - Brad Fiedel, Michael Babatunde Olatunji - Varese Sarabande CD Club
The Tattooed Torah - Daniel Alcheh - Notefornote
The Time Tunnel: Volume One - Robert Drasnin, Lyn Murray, Paul Sawtell, John Williams - La-La Land

IN THEATERS TODAY

Nobody - David Buckley

Quartet has announced three new releases -- the first-ever release of Ennio Morricone's score for the 1964 Italian crime comedy I DUE EVASI DI SING SING; Fernando Velazquez' score for the TV series PATRIA; and the score for the new comedy THE MAN IN THE HAT, starring the great Ciaran Hinds, and composed by Oscar winner Stephen Warbeck (Shakespeare in Love, Billy Elliot), which should be no surprise because the film was co-written and co-directed by Oscar winner Stephen Warbeck. 

Varese Sarabande is planning to announce two new limited edition CD Club releases today.

Dragon's Domain has announced three new upcoming releases -- Dennis McCarthy's score for the film verson of Charles Busch's stage comedy DIE, MOMMIE, DIE!, starring Busch himself, Jason Priestley, Frances Conroy, Philip Baker Hall and Stark Sands; the score for the 1986 horror comedy KILLER PARTY, composed by John Beal (The Funhouse); and THE LEE HOLDRIDGE COLLECTION VOL. 2, featuring the composer's unused score for the 1999 drama Africa, starring Greg Wise, Patrick Bergin and Elizabeth Berkeley, and his music for the South African juvenile drama e'Lollipop, released in the U.S. as Forever Young, Forever Free.

The latest Grammy winners in the film music-related categories are:

BEST SCORE SOUNDTRACK FOR VISUAL MEDIA
JOKER - Hildur Guonadottir

BEST COMPILATION SOUNDTRACK FOR VISUAL MEDIA
JOJO RABBIT

BEST SONG WRITTEN FOR VISUAL MEDIA
"NO TIME TO DIE" from No Time to Die - Billie Eilish O'Connell, Finneas O'Connell

This last award must certainly be the first time a James Bond song has won a Grammy seven months before the film has even been released.

Notefornote is releasing the score for Christopher Young's most recent collaboration with director Sam Raimi, the three-part "The Golden Arm (Michigan)" from the Quibi series 50 STATES OF FRIGHT.

CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK

Adventures in Dinosaur City - Frederic Ensign Teetsel - Dragon's Domain
His Dark Materials: Season Two - Lorne Balfe - Silva
Legal Eagles - Elmer Bernstein - Intrada Special Collection
The Mark Snow Collection Vol. 3: Southern Gothic - Mark Snow - Dragon's Domain
Vampirella - Joel Goldsmith - Dragon's Domain

IN THEATERS TODAY

No major new releases are expected to open tomorrow, though more cities have re-opened cinemas including San Francisco. 

The latest score CD from Intrada is an expanded, two-disc release of Frank DeVol's exciting adventure score for the original, 1965 film version of THE FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX, with the full 64-minute score on Disc One and alternates and source cues on Disc Two.

The voting closes for the first annual FSMies this Sunday, Feb. 28, at 11:59 PM (PST). Subscribers can click here to vote!

Quartet has announced two new score CDs -- the first release of Ennio Morricone and Bruno Nicolai's score for the 1968 Italian gangster film BANDITS IN ROME (aka Roma come Chicago), starring John Cassavates and Gabriele Ferzetti; and the first release of Riz Ortolani's score for the 1970 thriller L'INVASIONE, starring Michel Piccoli.

Dragon's Domain has announced three new releases -- THE MARK SNOW COLLECTION VOL. 3: SOUTHERN GOTHIC, featuring the composer's scores for two 1994 TV movies, Murder Between Friends and Shadows of Desire; Joel Goldsmith's score for the 1996 comic book adaptation VAMPIRELLA, starring Talisa Soto and Roger Daltrey; and the score for the 1991 children's fantasy ADVENTURES IN DINOSAUR CITY, by Frederic Ensign Teetsel.

Music Box is reissuing two of their out-of-print, expanded score CDs - Philippe Sarde's score for director Jean-Jacques Annaud's animal adventure drama THE BEAR, and Ennio Morricone's score for the 1973 spy thriller THE SERPENT, starring Yul Brynner, Henry Fonda, Dirk Bogarde, Philippe Noiret and Virna Lisi.

CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK

The Awakening (re-release) - Claude Bolling - Quartet
Fireball XL5 - Barry Gray - Silva
The Great Gatsby Ballet - Carl Davis - Carl Davis Collection
The Silence of the Lambs (re-release) - Howard Shore - Quartet
Symphonies No. 6 & 7/Night Voyage - Christopher Gunning - Signum
Zappa - John Frizzell, songs - Zappa Records 

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced shortlists for the nominations for nine categories for the 93rd Oscars, including the following music categories:

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)

AMMONITE – Dustin O’Halloran, Volker Bertelmann
BLIZZARD OF SOULS – Lolita Ritmanis
DA 5 BLOODS – Terence Blanchard
THE INVISIBLE MAN – Benjamin Wallfisch
JINGLE JANGLE: A CHRISTMAS JOURNEY – John Debney
THE LIFE AHEAD (LA VITA DAVANTI A SE)  - Gabriel Yared
THE LITTLE THINGS – Thomas Newman
MANK – Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
THE MIDNIGHT SKY – Alexandre Desplats
MINARI – Emile Mosseri
MULAN – Harry Gregson-Williams
NEWS OF THE WORLD – James Newton Howard
SOUL – Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Jon Batiste
TENET – Ludwig Goransson
THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 – Daniel Pemberton

The biggest surprise inclusion is Blizzard of Souls. I suspect I'm not the only one here who wouldn't be aware of this film or its score if La-La Land hadn't made the soundtrack available. Most unexpected exclusions are Let Him Go (Giacchino), Pieces of a Woman (Shore) and two scores by Hans Zimmer, Hillbilly Elegy (written with David Fleming) and Wonder Woman 1984 (aka WW84).

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)

“Fight For You” -  JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH- Gabriella Wilson, Dernst Emile II, Tiara Thomas
“Free” - THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN – Diane Warren
“Green” - SOUND OF METAL – Abraham Marder
“Hear My Voice” - THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 – Daniel Pemberton
“Husavik” - EUROVISION SONG CONTEST: THE STORY OF FIRE SAGA – Savan Kotecha, Fat Max Gsus, Rickard Goransson
“lo Si` (Seen)” - THE LIFE AHEAD (LA VITA DAVANTI A SE) – Diane Warren, Laura Pausini, Niccolo Agliardi
“Loyal Brave True” -  MULAN – Jamie Hartman, Harry Gregson-Williams, Rosi Golan, Billy Crabtree
“Make It Work” -  JINGLE JANGLE: A CHRISTMAS JOURNEY – John Stephens
“Never Break” -  GIVING VOICE – Nasri Atweh, Benjamin Hudson McIldowie, Greg Wells, John Stephens
“Rain Song” – MINARI – Emile Mosseri, Stefanie Y. Hong
“See What You’ve Done” -  BELLY OF THE BEAST – Mary J. Blige, Darhyl Camper, Denisia “Blu June” Andrews, Brittany “Chi” Coney
“Show Me Your Soul” - MR. SOUL! – Robert Glasper, Muhammad Ayers, Lalah Hathaway, Melissa Haizlip
“Speak Now” - ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI... – Leslie Odom Jr., Sam Ashworth
 “Turntables” - ALL IN: THE FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY – Janelle Monae Robinson, Nathaniel Irvin III, George “George 2.0.” A Peters II
“Wuhan Flu” - BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM: DELIVERY OF PRODIGIOUS BRIBE TO AMERICAN REGIME FOR MAKE BENEFIT ONCE GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN – Anthony Hines, Sacha Baron Cohen, Erran Baron Cohen

(The specific songwriters on the list above have not been officially announced as the contenders, but are merely the result of my own research into the topic).

None of the songs from the animated films Over the Moon or Trolls World Tour made the cut, and other highly-touted songs that didn't make the list include “The Plan” (Tenet), “Tigress & Tweed” (The United States vs. Billie Holliday), “Together” (Music) and “Wear Your Crown” (The Prom). Continuing a recent trend, four of the songs are from documentaries -- All In: The Fight for Democracy, Belly of the Beast, Giving Voice and Mr. Soul!

The rest of the shortlists are at the end of this column.*

Jon Burlingame has written an article for Variety about the lists of eligible scores and songs for this year's Oscars (which, let's not forget, extended its release eligibility period to the end of February 2021 - hence the inclusion of Thomas Newman's score for the just-released The Little Things, for example). For example, the score to Pixar's Soul is apparently eligible, and the article suggests that Jon Batiste would be eligible for the film's original jazz compositions along with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for their background score.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has announced this year's nominees for the Golden Globes, including the following film music categories:

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE – MOTION PICTURE

MANK – Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
THE MIDNIGHT SKY – Alexandre Desplat
NEWS OF THE WORLD – James Newton Howard
SOUL – Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Jon Batiste
TENET  – Ludwig Göransson

BEST ORIGINAL SONG – MOTION PICTURE

“Fight for You” – JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH – H.E.R., Dernst Emile II, Tiara Thomas
“Hear My Voice” – THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 – Daniel Pemberton, Celeste
“Io Si (Seen)” – THE LIFE AHEAD – Diane Warren, Laura Pausini, Niccolò Agliardi
“Speak Now” – ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI  – Leslie Odom Jr, Sam Ashworth
“Tigress & Tweed” – THE UNITED STATES VS. BILLIE HOLLIDAY – Andra Day, Raphael Saadiq