John Powell: Bolt

Walt Disney Pictures confirmed to Upcoming Film Scores today that John Powell, one of the most prolific Hollywood A-list composers, has been signed to score the studio's new animated film Bolt. Directed by Chris Williams, who wrote the stories for Disney's animated features Mulan and The Emperor's New Groove, Bolt tells the story about a dog who has lived his life on the set of a TV show and believes that he has true superpowers. Featuring the voices of John Travolta, Woody Harrelson, Bruce Greenwood and Thomas Haden Church, the film is scheduled to hit cinemas on November 26. John Powell, who is repped by Kraft-Engel Management, is busy as always: among his other upcoming films are the Will Smith action comedy Hancock, the drama Stop Loss, and another animated film, Horton Hears a Who. The two last-mentioned will be released on CD by Varèse Sarabande. Opening worldwide this weekend is Jumper, also scored by John Powell, with a score album coming out on Lakeshore Records.

Craig Armstrong: The Incredible Hulk

Upcoming Film Scores has learned that prolific Scottish composer Craig Armstrong has been hired to pen the original score for Marvel's new Hulk movie, The Incredible Hulk. The film, which is directed by French helmer Louis Leterrier (best known for his Transporter action flicks), will be released on June 13 by Universal. Edward Norton is doing the part as Bruce Banner and the supporting cast includes Robert Downey Jr., Liv Tyler, William Hurt and Tim Roth. Zak Penn, who wrote X-Men: The Last Stand and Last Action Hero, is responsible for the screenplay. Craig Armstrong, who is represented in the US by First Artists Management, recently scored Elizabeth: The Golden Age for Working Title. The Incredible Hulk is his first action film since 2001's Kiss of the Dragon.

Christopher Drake, Robert J. Kral & Kevin Manthei: Batman - Gotham Knight

Three up and coming composers - Christopher Drake, Robert J. Kral and Kevin Manthei - are providing original score music for Batman: Gotham Knight, Warner Bros' animated Batman anthology film scheduled to premiere on DVD around the theatrical release of Christopher Nolan's new Batman feature, The Dark Knight, on July 18. While the score for the big live action feature is a collaboration, again, between James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer, the animated film is scored by the three composers individually; they wrote music for two episodes each. Christopher Drake's previous credits include the animated Hellboy films, while Robert J. Kral is best known for his Superman: Doomsday score. Kevin Manthei has done a lot of video game scores and also recently scored the animated Justice League: The New Frontier for Warner Bros.

Terence Blanchard: Miracle at St. Anna

Terence Blanchard is doing the score for Miracle at St. Anna, the film version of James McBride WWII novel about four black American soldiers who get trapped in an Italian village in 1944. The cast includes John Turturro, James Gandolfini, D.B. Sweeney, Derek Luke, Michael Ealy, LAz Alonso and Walton Goggins. The film is directed by Spike Lee - it marks the eleventh (!) feature film project where the director has worked with composer Blanchard, indeed one of the strongest director-composer working relationships in modern cinema. A co-production between Touchstone and Lee's company 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, Miracle at St. Anna is scheduled to premiere on October 10.

Rupert Gregson-Williams: Bedtime Stories

Rupert Gregson-Williams will compose the score for Walt Disney Pictures' Bedtime Stories, the upcoming Adam Sandler comedy directed by Adam Shankman, who helmed last year's hit musical Hairspray. The film is scheduled to hit cinemas on December 25, released by Buena Vista, and is a fairy-tale about a man whose imaginative bedtime stories magically begin to come true. Screenplay is by Matt Lopez who is also writing Witch Mountain for Disney. Rupert Gregson-Williams' other upcoming films include You Don't Mess with the Zohan and Made of Honor.

Theodore Shapiro: Marley & Me

Theodore Shapiro is currently one of the most prolific composers working in Hollywood. Already on his list of current and upcoming films are Mysteries of Pittsburgh and The Girl in the Park (both finished but awaiting their theatrical releases), Semi-Pro (recorded at Sony a month ago - session report available here), Tropic Thunder and Nowhereland. The Gorfaine-Schwartz Agency has now added yet another project to his resumé: Marley & Me, a comedy directed by David Frankel with whom Shapiro previously worked on The Devil Wears Prada. It stars Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson as a couple who are the owners of a neurotic dog. Fox will release on December 19.

Klaus Badelt: Starship Troopers: Marauder

German composer Klaus Badelt has a couple of epic adventure movies coming up. The first one is Starship Troopers: Marauder, the third film in the series that was launched by Paul Verhoeven, accompanied by a rousing Basil Poledouris score, in 1997. The new film is directed by Ed Neumeier, who wrote the script for the first film and directed the second one. Casper Van Dien returns in the lead. Furthermore, Badelt is doing the score for another sequel, The Scorpion King: Rise of the Akkadian, which follows the Mummy spin-off from 2002, which had a score by John Debney. Veteran director Russell "Highlander" Mulcahy directs. Both films are produced by German company ApolloMovie. Badelt's other upcoming films include action film Fire Bay, about US' plans to invade Cuba, and French animated adventure Dragon Hunters.