Alan Silvestri: Hannah Montana - The Movie

Walt Disney Pictures announced today that Alan Silvestri is going to work on the music for Hannah Montana: The Movie, the studio's big screen follow up to the higihly popular teen TV series. British director Peter Chelsom, who previously worked with Silvestri on Serendipity,
helms the feature which is slated for a spring 2009 release. The stars from the series - Miley Cyrus, Billy Ray Cyrus, Emily Osment, Jason Earles, Mitchel Musso and Moises Arias - all return in the feature. Alan Silvestri's other upcoming films include Robert Zemeckis' A Christmas Carol and the big action adventure G.I. Joe.

Alexandre Desplat: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the new film from David Fincher (Seven, Zodiac, Fight Club), gets an original score by French composer Alexandre Desplat. Starring Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt, the film tells the bizarre story (written by F. Scott Fitzgerald) about a man who starts aging backwards. Eric Roth (who won an Oscar for his Forrest Gump screenplay) has adapted Fitzgerald's story for the screen. The film is scheduled to premiere on December 19. Alexandre Desplat is best known for his recent big Hollywood scores, including The Golden Compass, but he has also written music for more auteur-orientated films such as Syriana, The Queen and Lust, Caution.

David Newman: The Spirit

David Newman has confirmed to Upcoming Film Scores that he is attached to Frank Miller's eagerly awaited The Spirit, based on the Will Eisner comic. This is the first collaboration between Sin City creator Miller and David Newman, and also the composer's first action film since Serenity, which he scored in 2005. The Spirit tells the story about a cop who returns from the dead to to fight crime in Central City. The film stars Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Eva Mendes and Gabriel Macht. Lionsgate produces for release on December 25. David Newman is also scoring comedy My Life in Ruins for director Donald Petrie.

Mark Isham: The Secret Life of Bees

Mark Isham is currently working on the score for Gina Prince-Bythewood's film version of the Sue Monk Kidd novel The Secret Life of Bees, starring Dakota Fanning, Paul Bettany, Hilarie Burton, Jennifer Hudson, Queen Latifah and Alicia Keys. The film takes place in South Carolina in 1964 and tells the story about a 14-year old girl who has lost her mother and finds comfort in the company of three independent beekeeping sisters. The film is scheduled to premiere on October 17, distributed by Fox Searchlight. Will Smith's Overbrook Entertainment and Lauren Schuler-Donner produce. Mark Isham has recently finished the score for Diane English's The Women and also has Gavin O'Connor's crime drama Pride and Glory and Gary Fleder's The Express on his list of upcoming films.

Marco Beltrami: Max Payne

Continuing to provide the musical accompaniment to director John Moore's visuals, Marco Beltrami will compose the original score for Max Payne, the film version of the 2001 Rockstar video game which is being produced by 20th Century Fox. Beltrami is currently one of the busiest composers in Hollywood: he recently scored Amusement, The Hurt Locker and In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead, all coming soon, and has sci-fi thrillers Repossession Mambo and Knowing on his future schedule. Max Payne stars Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis and Beau Bridges and is the third collaboration between Moore and Beltrami after Flight of the Phoenix and The Omen.

David Hirschfelder: Australia

20th Century Fox has confirmed to Upcoming Film Scores that David Hirschfelder is the composer who is writing the original score for Baz Luhrmann's eaglery awaited epic Australia, starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. Luhrmann previously worked with Hirschfelder on his breakthrough picture Strictly Ballroom, but his two subsequent feature films have been scored by Craig Armstrong. Anton Monsted, who worked on both Moulin Rouge! and Romeo + Juliet, as well as the Hirschfelder-scored Aquamarine, serves as the film's executive music supervisor. Trackdown's Simon Leadley is the music editor. Film is scheduled to premiere on November 14.

Rupert Gregson-Williams: The Lonely Maiden

Rupert Gregson-Williams has been hired to write his second score for director Peter Hewitt, for whom he scored Thunderpants in 2002. Their new film is entitled The Lonely Maiden and it's a crime comedy starring Morgan Freeman and William H. Macy (who are also producing), Christopher Walken, Marcia Gay Harden and Wynn Everett. The story is about three museum security guards who plan to steal their favorite art (sounds a little like Night at the Museum without fantasy elements). Film is scheduled to premiere on November 7. Rupert Gregson-Williams' other upcoming films include You Don't Mess with the Zohan and Bedtime Stories.

Ramin Djawadi: Around the World in 50 Years 3D

Iron Man composer Ramin Djawadi continues his relationship with Illuminata Pictures and director Ben Stassen, who helmed Fly Me to the Moon, another of Djawadi's recent projects. Rooted in contemporary environemental awareness, Stassen's new film, Around the World in 50 Years 3D, tells the story about a sea turtle who travels around the world for 50 years and witnesses earth's change due to global warming. The voice cast includes Tim Curry, Jenny McCarthy, Melanie Griffith and Stacy Keach. Currently in production, the film is scheduled to premiere next year, while Fly Me to the Moon will open in the US on August 8.