For all the naysayers of late claiming that ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ has all the signs of being a flop, there are some indicators that the film may be better than people are giving it credit for. Musically at least, the film is being composed by John Powell, best known for the score to ‘How To Train Your Dragon’ (claiming an Oscar nomination back in 2010) and the score to the ‘Bourne’ movies and ‘United 93,’ which to me, seems like a good fit for the style of movie Ron Howard seems to be going for. And now that we have learned that the ‘Star Wars’ Maestro himself, John Williams, is writing a theme for the movie which he will offer to Powell and Howard.
While speaking to Variety, William stated:
“The present plan is that I’m writing a theme for Han Solo, and John Powell is going to write the score, which he’ll do brilliantly…His assignment is something I’m very happy about. What I will do is offer this to John, and to [director] Ron Howard, and if all parties are happy with it, then I will be happy. … John [Powell] will complete the score. He will write all the rest of the themes and all of the other material, which I’m going to be very anxious to hear.”
The only live-action canon’Star Wars’ film not to feature something original written by John William was last year’s ‘Rogue One,’ which was composed (quite well in my opinion) by Michael Giacchino. Giacchino is a huge fan of Williams and if anyone could do service to the type of score he writes for ‘Star Wars,’ it would be Giacchino.
Having Williams write a theme for ‘Solo’ almost seems like Williams is endorsing the latest standalone, which is a good sign for the movie which has taken some PR blows of late, with sources claiming there are massive issues behind the scenes, even after the very public firing of the original directors last summer. Of course, one could make the argument that Williams also worked on the ‘Star Wars’ prequels, so his involvement does not always mean greatness, but let’s be honest, the musical scores to the prequels were not the problem.
What are your thoughts on Williams writing a theme for ‘Solo?’ Are you excited to hear what he has in mind? Will it be Han’s theme? Or something else entirely? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
