Skip to main content

Tired of tights: Composer Hans Zimmer retires from superhero scoring

hans zimmer retires from superhero flicks
Facebook
When will the mighty superhero bubble burst in Hollywood? For Hans Zimmer, it already has. The Oscar-winning composer who helped spawn the current boom with his early work on Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy has announced that he has “retired” from the superhero genre, according to a recent interview with the BBC.

Zimmer — whose work adds not only The Dark Night trilogy, but also both of Zack Snyder’s superman films, Man of Steel and the recently-released Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice — says he feels burnt out by the film genre, which has been at the center of much of his work for more than a decade.

Recommended Videos

“I have officially retired from the superhero business,” he said in the an interview with BBC Hardtalk. “[Batman v Superman] was very hard for me to do, to try to find new language. I did Batman Begins with Chris 12 years ago, so The Dark Knight trilogy might be three movies to you; to me it was 11 years of my life.”

Please enable Javascript to view this content

For Zimmer — who has an incredible string of hits attached to his name including The Lion King, Gladiator, and the more-recent blockbuster Interstellar (to name a few) — there are always greener pastures.

But as film studios continue to recycle the same old tropes in their films with men and women in tights, often to middling critical responses, perhaps Zimmer’s exit is an indication of something more broad in the cultural zeitgeist.

Could the era of superhero flicks, finally, have reached its peak? With dozens of Marvel Comics films alone set for release in the next decade, along with multiple series from major networks and streamers like Netflix, it certainly doesn’t look like the end is anywhere near.

However, though superhero flicks may still make money hand-over-fist, after two decades in the spotlight, it may be that studios will begin to have more trouble wooing the highly-sought after talents of artists like Zimmer.

Then again, maybe quality doesn’t matter after all. Warner Bros.’ $250 million behemoth Batman v Superman has already grossed $500 million since its premiere last week, in spite of a 29 percent Rotten Tomatoes score, and general derision among a vast majority of critics. That indicates there is still plenty left in the tank when it comes to the appetites of American viewers — and perhaps even more importantly, international moviegoers —  for superhero flicks, good or bad.

Parker Hall
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Parker Hall is a writer and musician from Portland, OR. He is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin…
If you have to watch one Hulu show this February, stream this one
Aya Cash and Chris Geere in You're the Worst.

All of the streaming services that we now have at our disposal have one thing in common: They exist to bring us all the TV we could possibly want. Among those services, though, Hulu is one of the very best at delivering interesting shows, and its mix of new stuff and excellent archival material means that there's always something worth checking out.
If you're struggling to narrow in on a single show, though, You're the Worst is worth checking out. The series follows two particularly terrible people who fall into a relationship and discover just how much they mean to one another. Here are three reasons it's worth checking out:
We also have guides to the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, the best movies on Max, and the best movies on Disney+.
It is unapologetic about its two leads
You're the Worst | Official Series Trailer | FX
You're the Worst is a romantic comedy, but it's a romantic comedy about two truly terrible people. You're unlikely to find a show with worse leads, but Gretchen and Jimmy, the show's central characters, are both cynical narcissists, and while they do grow over the course of the series, they never become good people, exactly.
Instead, the series is at least in part about all the different ways that love can bloom and how two deeply messed up people can find one another and create something lasting and meaningful, even as they deal with one another's faults and foibles.

Aya Cash is close to a revelation
You're the Worst FXX
The entire cast is excellent, but what makes You're the Worst truly exceptional is Aya Cash's performance as Gretchen. Gretchen is as messy as any TV character ever created, but Cash makes her understandable, sympathetic, and likable.
You're the Worst is a show about two people who can't help but get in their own way over and over again, but what makes Cash's performance so brilliant is that you can see the naked hurt that's bubbling underneath all of her wanton aggression. Gretchen just wants to know that she is loved, and You're the Worst is ultimately about whether Jimmy can give that to her.

Read more
Miles Teller has one request for Tom Cruise on Top Gun 3
Miles Teller looks back and stares in Top Gun: Maverick.

If Miles Teller returns to the skies in Top Gun 3, he has one request for Tom Cruise.

While promoting The Gorge on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Teller was asked about the status of Top Gun 3. Teller remained coy, saying that he does not have the power to "greenlight that thing." As Colbert pressed for more details, Teller mentioned that if Top Gun 3 goes into production, he needs time to work on his beach body.

Read more
Sarah Michelle Gellar on Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot: ‘We are on the path there’
Buffy holds out a gold orb in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Sarah Michelle Gellar is finally ready for a Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot.
News broke earlier this week that a Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot was in development at Hulu and nearing a pilot order. Gellar is set to return as Buffy Summers, the titular vampire slayer. Oscar winner Chloé Zhao is attached to direct and executive produce.
Days after the announcement, Gellar took to Instagram and explained how the reboot came together.
"Three years ago, I got a call from my dear friend and mentor, Gail Berman. She told me that she wanted me to sit down with Chloé Zhao to hear her take on a potential Buffy revival," Gellar wrote. "I was blown away that Chloé even knew who I was, but, as I’ve always done, I told Gail that I just didn’t see a way for the show to exist again. We’d always been aligned on that, but this time I heard something different in her voice. I eventually agreed to go (mainly just to meet Chloé), and our twenty-minute coffee quickly turned into a four-hour adventure. We laughed, we cried, but mostly we both talked about how much this show means to us."

Even though Gellar did not sign anything, she did agree to continue the conversation with Chloé. Over the next few years, the duo added Nora Zuckerman and Lila Zuckerman to the creative team. The Zuckermans will write, showrun, and executive produce the Buffy reboot.

Read more