‘Wicked,’ ‘Moana 2’ and 143 More Film Scores Eligible for the Oscar as Shortlist Voting Begins (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Jon Burlingame The scores from “Wicked,” “Moana 2” and “Emilia Perez” are among the 89 songs and 145 scores eligible for music Oscars this year.

As predicted, “Dune: Part Two” is not among them. Composer Hans Zimmer’s music for director Denis Villeneuve’s second half of the Frank Herbert sci-fi novel is believed to have run afoul of the Academy’s strict rule about music in sequels: “The score must not use more than 20 percent of pre-existing themes and music borrowed from previous scores in the franchise.” Zimmer has said that he disagrees with the rule and contends that the music for the two films is one giant canvas.

As he recently told Variety: “The Oscars are important, and you’re influencing the way we can create art… We should have the freedom to find ways to create whatever comes to us.

Denis made the right choice by splitting a heavy-duty book into two parts.” Zimmer’s music for the first “Dune” movie won the 2021 Oscar; it was his second, after his 1994 win for “The Lion King.” Zimmer’s score for “Blitz,” however, is eligible for this year’s awards.