If both Mank and Soul are indicated, which seems likely, Reznor & Ross will be the first composer or composer team with two scores indicated in the same year since Alexandre Desplat had two nominations six years ago: The Grand Budapest Hotel (who won) and The imitation game.
All five Golden Globe nominees recently announced as the best original soundtrack made the Oscar list. They are, in addition to Mank and Soul, The Midnight Sky (Alexandre Desplat), Principle (Ludwig Göransson) and World News (James Newton Howard).
What if The Midnight Sky ending with a nomination, this would be Desplat’s 12th nomination in the last 15 years – more than any other composer in this period. Desplat won for The Grand Budapest Hotel and The shape of the water.
Howard has yet to win an Oscar, despite eight nods over the years (six in the scoring categories).
Thomas Newman is on the shortlist with The little things. This would be Newman’s 15th nomination in this category, which would allow him to overtake Alex North as the composer with the most scoring waves without winning. (Of course, Newman could win on April 25, which would make him lose that distinction.)
Terence Blanchard was selected for his work in Da 5 Bloods. Blanchard was appointed two years ago to BlacKkKlansman, that, as Da 5 Bloods, was written, directed and produced by Spike Lee. If Da 5 Bloods is nominated, Blanchard will become the only second black composer – following Quincy Jones – to receive two or more career nods on tracks. Jones received three.
Here is a list of the 15 pre-selected scores, listed alphabetically by movie title:
Ammonite (Neon)
Dustin O’Halloran and Volker Bertelmann
Blizzard of Souls
Lolita Ritmanis
Da 5 Bloods (Netflix)
Terence Blanchard
The invisible man (Universal Pictures)
Benjamin Wallfisch
Jingle Jangle: a Christmas journey (Netflix)
John Debney
Future Life (La Vita Davanti a Se) (Netflix)
Gabriel Yared
The little things (HBO Max / Warner Bros.)
Thomas Newman
Mank (Netflix)
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
The Midnight Sky (Netflix)
Alexandre Desplat
Minari (A24)
Emile Mosseri
Mulan (Disney +)
Harry Gregson-Williams
World News (Universal)
James Newton Howard
Soul (Pixar)
Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste
Principle (Warner Bros.)
Ludwig Göransson
The Chicago Trial 7 (Netflix)
Daniel Pemberton
These 15 scores were selected by the musical branch of 376 members of the Academy from 136 songs that were eligible for the category. Members of the music business will also select the five nominees, which will be revealed on March 15th. All voting members of the Oscars will vote to determine the winners, which will be announced on April 25th.
Highly praised scores that failed to make the list include Shirley (Neon) Tamar-kali; The United States vs. Billie Holiday (Hulu) Kris Bowers; Wonder Woman 1984 (HBO Max / Warner Bros.) Hans Zimmer; Metal sound (Amazon Studios) Abraham Marder and Nicolas Becker; Hillbilly Elegy (Netflix) Hans Zimmer and David Fleming; cherry (Apple TV +) Henry Jackman; Emma. (Focus features) Isobel Waller-Bridge and David Schweitzer; The Glories (Roadside attractions and LD entertainment) Elliot Goldenthal; I am your wife (Amazon Studios) Aska Matsumia; Forward (Pixar) Mychael Danna and Jeff Danna; About the Moon (Netflix) Steven Price; and Wolfwalkers (Apple TV + / GKIDS) Bruno Coulais & Kila.