Best soundtracks spanning multiple films

I’m talking about more than two soundtracks for a film series by the same composer(s). Here are the 12 I think are the best.

Best of the best

James Bond — John Barry

Barry wrote the music for 11 of the first 15 James Bond movies:

  • From Russia with Love
  • Goldfinger
  • Thunderball
  • You Only Live Twice
  • On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
  • Diamonds Are Forever
  • The Man with the Golden Gun
  • Moonraker
  • Octopussy
  • A View to a Kill
  • The Living Daylights

There’s a bit of controversy about the “James Bond Theme,” first heard in Dr. No. It’s credited to Monty Norman, who wrote most of the music for that film. But Barry worked on the theme too, and he even went to court to try to get the credit. Although he wasn’t successful he did work on 11 James Bond movies after the first one — and Norman worked on none.

Star Trek — Jerry Goldsmith

Goldsmith wrote the music for 5 Star Trek movies, 2 of the 6 original series movies and 3 of the 4 Next Generation movies:

  • Star Trek: The Motion Picture
  • Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
  • Star Trek: First Contact
  • Star Trek: Insurrection
  • Star Trek: Nemesis

Goldsmith’s theme from The Motion Picture was also used as the theme for the TV show Star Trek: The Next Generation. And he wrote the theme for Star Trek: Voyager.

The Lord of the Rings — Howard Shore

Shore wrote the music for all 3 Lord of the Rings movies (and will be doing the upcoming Hobbit movies which are prequels to The Lord of the Rings):

  • The Fellowship of the Ring
  • The Two Towers
  • The Return of the King

Star Wars — John Williams

Williams wrote the music for all 6 Star Wars movies:

  • Episode I: The Phantom Menace
  • Episode II: Attack of the Clones
  • Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
  • Episode IV: A New Hope
  • Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
  • Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

Runner ups

Back to the Future — Alan Silvestri

Silvestri wrote the music for all 3 Back to the Future movies:

  • Back to the Future
  • Back to the Future Part II
  • Back to the Future Part III

Toy Story — Randy Newman

Newman wrote the music for all 3 Toy Story movies:

  • Toy Story
  • Toy Story 2
  • Toy Story 3

Harry Potter — John Williams

Williams wrote the music for the first 3 Harry Potter movies:

  • Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
  • Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
  • Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Pirates of the Caribbean — Hans Zimmer & Klaus Badelt

Zimmer wrote the music for all 4 Pirates of the Caribbean movies and Badelt helped him on the first one:

  • The Curse of the Black Pearl
  • Dead Man’s Chest
  • At World’s End
  • On Stranger Tides (I haven’t seen this movie)

Honourable mentions

Ocean’s Eleven — David Holmes

Holmes wrote the music for all 3 Ocean’s Eleven movies:

  • Ocean’s Eleven
  • Ocean’s Twelve
  • Ocean’s Thirteen

The Pink Panther — Henry Mancini

Mancini wrote the music for 8 Pink Panther movies, all the ones with Peters Sellers plus the one with Roberto Benigni (I’ve seen most but not necessarily all of these movies):

  • The Pink Panther
  • A Shot in the Dark
  • The Return of the Pink Panther
  • The Pink Panther Strikes Again
  • Revenge of the Pink Panther
  • Trail of the Pink Panther
  • Curse of the Pink Panther
  • Son of the Pink Panther

Indiana Jones — John Williams

Williams wrote the music for all 4 Indiana Jones movies:

  • Raiders of the Lost Ark
  • Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
  • Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
  • Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

The Dark Knight — Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard

Zimmer and Howard wrote the music for the first 2 movies and Zimmer wrote the music for the third:

  • Batman Begins
  • The Dark Knight
  • The Dark Knight Rises

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 29th, 2012 at 9:35 pm and is filed under My thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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