John Williams is officially in the running for the 51st Oscar nomination and sixth win of his career, with the veteran composer’s score for Steven Spielberg’s “The Post” and Rian Johnson’s “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” being two of 141 film scores that have qualified for the Academy Award for Best Original Score.
A nomination would place the 85-year-old composer eight awards shy of Walt Disney’s record of 59 Oscar nominations. He is currently in second place, and is the most-nominated living person.
The Academy announced the qualifying composers and film scores on Thursday, with a number of past Oscar winners joining Williams on the list: Alexandre Desplat for “The Shape of Water” and “Suburbicon,” Mychael Danna for “The Breadwinner” (with his brother Jeff) and “The Man Who Invented Christmas,” Michael Giacchino for “Coco,” “The Book of Henry,” “Spider-Man: Homecoming” and “War for the Planet of the Apes,” Marianelli for “Darkest Hour” and Hans Zimmer for “Dunkirk” by himself, “Blade Runner 2049” with Benjamin Wallfisch and “The Boss Baby” with Steve Mazzaro.
Alan Menken was deemed eligible for his new score to the live-action musical “Beauty and the Beast,” after winning the Oscar 25 years ago for the score to the animated film on which the new movie is based.
Scores that have already been nominated for both the Golden Globes and the Critics’ Choice Awards include Williams for “The Post,” Zimmer for “Dunkirk,” Desplat for “The Shape of Water” and Jonny Greenwood for “Phantom Thread.” A Golden Globe nomination also went to Carter Burwell for “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” while Critics’ Choice nominations also went to Marianelli and to the team of Zimmer and Wallfisch for “Blade Runner 2049.”
Of the 141 qualifying scores, 15 are collaborations between two composers. Another, “The Second Coming of Christ,” is credited to three composers, while the Indian film “Lake of Fire” is credited to Qutub-E-Kripa, which is the name not of a single person but of a group of musicians and composers assembled by AR Rahman.
In the past, the Academy made it very difficult for composing teams to be nominated, but the rules have loosened in recent years.
In a sign of just how male-dominated the world of film music is, only six of the 141 scores were written or co-written by women. Two of those were by Rachel Portman and another two by the Academy’s first female governor from the Music Branch, Laura Karpman.
Last year, 145 scores qualified; the three years before that, the total remained between 112 and 114.
The eligible scores:
“Alien: Covenant,” Jed Kurzel, composer
“All I See Is You,” Marc Streitenfeld, composer
“All the Money in the World,” Daniel Pemberton, composer
“Annabelle: Creation,” Benjamin Wallfisch, composer
“Band Aid,” Lucius, composer
“Battle of the Sexes,” Nicholas Britell, composer
“Baywatch,” Christopher Lennertz, composer
“Beauty and the Beast,” Alan Menken, composer
“The Big Sick,” Michael Andrews, composer
“Blade Runner 2049,” Benjamin Wallfisch and Hans Zimmer, composers
“The Book of Henry,” Michael Giacchino, composer
“Born in China,” Barnaby Taylor, composer
“The Boss Baby,” Hans Zimmer and Steve Mazzaro, composers
“Boston,” Jeff Beal, composer
“Brad’s Status,” Mark Mothersbaugh, composer
“Brawl in Cell Block 99,” Jeff Herriott and S. Craig Zahler, composers
“The Breadwinner,” Mychael Danna and Jeff Danna, composers
“Breathe,” Nitin Sawhney, composer
“Brigsby Bear,” David Wingo, composer
“Brimstone & Glory,” Dan Romer and Benh Zeitlin, composers
“Captain Underpants The First Epic Movie,” Theodore Shapiro, composer
“Cars 3,” Randy Newman, composer
“The Circle,” Danny Elfman, composer
“Coco,” Michael Giacchino, composer
“Cries from Syria,” Martin Tillman, composer
“A Cure for Wellness,” Benjamin Wallfisch, composer
“Darkest Hour,” Dario Marianelli, composer
“Despicable Me 3,” Heitor Pereira, composer
“The Disaster Artist,” Dave Porter, composer
“A Dog’s Purpose,” Rachel Portman, composer
“Downsizing,” Rolfe Kent, composer
“Drawing Home,” Ben Holiday, composer
“Dunkirk,” Hans Zimmer, composer
“Earth: One Amazing Day,” Alex Heffes, composer
“A Fantastic Woman,” Matthew Herbert, composer
“The Fate of the Furious,” Brian Tyler, composer
“Father Figures,” Rob Simonsen, composer
“Ferdinand,” John Powell, composer
“Fifty Shades Darker,” Danny Elfman, composer
“Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool,” J. Ralph, composer
“First They Killed My Father,” Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders, composers
“Get Out,” Michael Abels, composer
“A Ghost Story,” Daniel Hart, composer
“Gifted,” Rob Simonsen, composer
“The Glass Castle,” Joel P. West, composer
“Going in Style,” Rob Simonsen, composer
“Good Time,” Daniel Lopatin, composer
“Goodbye Christopher Robin,” Carter Burwell, composer
“Gook,” Roger Suen, composer
“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” Tyler Bates, composer
“The Hitman’s Bodyguard,” Atli Ӧrvarsson, composer
“Hostiles,” Max Richter, composer
“Human Flow,” Karsten Fundal, composer
“An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power,” Jeff Beal, composer
“It,” Benjamin Wallfisch, composer
“Jane,” Philip Glass, composer
“Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,” Henry Jackman, composer
“Justice League,” Danny Elfman, composer
“Kepler’s Dream,” Patrick Neil Doyle, composer
“King Arthur: Legend of the Sword,” Daniel Pemberton, composer
“Kingsman: The Golden Circle,” Henry Jackman and Matthew Margeson, composers
“Kong: Skull Island,” Henry Jackman, composer
“LA 92,” Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans, composers
“LBJ,” Marc Shaiman, composer
“Lady Bird,” Jon Brion, composer
“Lake of Fire,” Qutub-E-Kripa, composer
“Last Flag Flying,” Graham Reynolds, composer
“The Lego Batman Movie,” Lorne Balfe, composer
“The Lego Ninjago Movie,” Mark Mothersbaugh, composer
“The Leisure Seeker,” Carlo Virzì, composer
“Let It Fall,” Mark Isham, composer
“Life,” Jon Ekstrand, composer
“Logan,” Marco Beltrami, composer
“The Lost City of Z,” Christopher Spelman, composer
“Loveless,” Evgueni Galperine and Sacha Galperine, composers
“Loving Vincent,” Clint Mansell, composer
“The Man Who Invented Christmas,” Mychael Danna, composer
“Mark Felt – The Man Who Brought Down the White House,” Daniel Pemberton, composer
“Marshall,” Marcus Miller, composer
“Mary and the Witch’s Flower,” Takatsugu Muramatsu, composer
“Maudie,” Michael Timmins, composer
“Molly’s Game,” Daniel Pemberton, composer
“Moomins and the Winter Wonderland,” Łukasz Targosz, composer
“The Mountain between Us,” Ramin Djawadi, composer
“Mudbound,” Tamar-kali, composer
“The Mummy,” Brian Tyler, composer
“Murder on the Orient Express,” Patrick Doyle, composer
“My Cousin Rachel,” Rael Jones, composer
“Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer,” Jun Miyake, composer
“Okja,” Jaeil Jung, composer
“Oklahoma City,” David Cieri, composer
“The Only Living Boy in New York,” Rob Simonsen, composer
“Only the Brave,” Joseph Trapanese, composer
“Our Souls at Night,” Elliot Goldenthal, composer
“Paris Can Wait,” Laura Karpman, composer
“Patti Cake$,” Geremy Jasper and Jason Binnick, composers
“Phantom Thread,” Jonny Greenwood, composer
“The Pirates of Somalia,” Andrew Feltenstein and John Nau, composers
“Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales,” Geoff Zanelli, composer
“The Post,” John Williams, composer
“Professor Marston and the Wonder Women,” Tom Howe, composer
“The Promise,” Gabriel Yared, composer
“Pulimurugan,” Gopi Sundar, composer
“Raw,” Jim Williams, composer
“Roman J. Israel, Esq.,” James Newton Howard, composer
“Saban’s Power Rangers,” Brian Tyler, composer
“Same Kind of Different as Me,” John Paesano, composer
“The Second Coming of Christ,” Navid Hejazi, Ramin Kousha and Silvia Leonetti, composers
“Served Like a Girl,” Michael A. Levine, composer
“The Shack,” Aaron Zigman, composer
“The Shape of Water,” Alexandre Desplat, composer
“Slipaway,” Tao Liu, composer
“Smurfs: The Lost Village,” Christopher Lennertz, composer
“Spider-Man: Homecoming,” Michael Giacchino, composer
“Split,” West Dylan Thordson, composer
“The Star,” John Paesano, composer
“Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” John Williams, composer
“Step,” Laura Karpman and Raphael Saadiq, composers
“Stronger,” Michael Brook, composer
“Suburbicon,” Alexandre Desplat, composer
“Swing Away,” Tao Zervas, composer
“Thank You for Your Service,” Thomas Newman, composer
“Their Finest,” Rachel Portman, composer
“Thelma,” Ola Fløttum, composer
“Thor: Ragnarok,” Mark Mothersbaugh, composer
“Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri,” Carter Burwell, composer
“Tickling Giants,” Paul Tyan, composer
“Tommy’s Honour,” Christian Henson, composer
“Trafficked,” David Das, composer
“Transformers: The Last Knight,” Steve Jablonsky, composer
“XXX: Return of Xander Cage,” Brian Tyler and Robert Lydecker, composers
“Victoria & Abdul,” Thomas Newman, composer
“Voice from the Stone,” Michael Wandmacher, composer
“Wakefield,” Aaron Zigman, composer
“War for the Planet of the Apes,” Michael Giacchino, composer
“Wilson,” Jon Brion, composer
“Wind River,” Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, composers
“Wonder,” Marcelo Zarvos, composer
“Wonder Woman,” Rupert Gregson-Williams, composer
“Wonderstruck,” Carter Burwell, composer
“Year by the Sea,” Alexander Janko, composer
Members of the Academy’s Music Branch will vote for their five favorites between January 5 and January 12, with nominations announced on January 23.
The work of the nominees will be showcased at the Oscars Concert on February 28, four days before the 90th Academy Awards.