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Academy Nixes Dark Knight Score

The executive committee of the Academy Awards' music branch has disqualified the score of The Dark Knight from Oscar contention.

The committee is expected to send formal letters to composers Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard, the pair who collaborated on the music for the score, shortly. The duo's prior collaboration on Batman Begins was also disqualified.

The issue with the score has to do with to the fact that five names were listed as composers on the music cue sheet, which documents every piece of music in a film. Zimmer claims that listing those additional names on the cue sheet helps to financially provide for the team who contributed, albeit in a lesser fashion, to the score. The score, however, was primarily written by Zimmer and Howard. The Academy nixed the score for nomination because less than 70 percent of the music was credited to the duo. Both Zimmer and Howard are seven-time nominees and have refused to comment on the situation.

—The ARTISTdirect Staff
11.14.08