Best Score Oscar: Will Hans Zimmer finally win trophy #2 for his ‘Dune’ masterpiece?

“And the Oscar goes to …” A hushed pause permeates throughout the Dolby Theatre, followed by the familiar sounds of an envelope being eagerly torn open. A knowing smile, and the words “Hans Zimmer! ‘Dune!'” are called out, followed by raucous applause and a standing ovation. A joyous celebration overtakes the auditorium. The Oscar orchestra begins to play Zimmer’s triumphant “Herald of the Change” track from his “Dune” score, as the world-renowned composer bounds up on stage to accept his long overdue second Academy Award.

Doesn’t that sound like a memorable Oscar night moment? While it’s a shame that this year’s show has decided to cut eight categories from being presented live on stage during the broadcast, we will hopefully still see an edited reel of a jubilant Zimmer accepting the Oscar, capping off a successful run of precursor wins in the lead-up to the big night. His “Dune” score is a retro-futuristic aural masterpiece, featuring bold new instrumentation and a choir of fierce female voices.

SEE 2022 Oscar nominations: Full list of nominees in all 23 categories

Zimmer’s last Oscar win was all the way back in 1995, for his iconic score for Disney’s animated classic “The Lion King.” But even though he has accumulated 10 total nominations since his Oscar debut for “Rain Man” (1988), he hasn’t been able to add another Academy Award to his trophy collection, which currently boasts four Grammys, three Hollywood Music in Media Awards, three Golden Globes and a World Soundtrack Award. The composer became an Oscar mainstay after that 1995 breakthrough, garnering consecutive nominations for “The Preacher’s Wife” (1996), “As Good As It Gets” (1997) and two bids in 1998 for “The Prince of Egypt” (which he shared with Steven Schwartz) and “The Thin Red Line.” He was back in 2000 with his score for Best Picture-winning “Gladiator” and then racked up four more noms with “Sherlock Holmes” (2009), “Inception” (2010), “Interstellar” (2014) and “Dunkirk” (2017).

His impressive nominations tally doesn’t even take into account high profile scores that were inexplicably snubbed by the academy, like “Pearl Harbor” (2001), “The Dark Knight” (2008), “12 Years a Slave” (2013) and “Blade Runner 2049” (2017), to name just a few. So it will be one of the highlights of this arduous Oscar season when Zimmer finally wins a second Oscar for his heralded soundtrack for Denis Villeneuve‘s sci-fi blockbuster “Dune.”

SEE Exclusive Video Interview: Hans Zimmer (‘Dune’)

According to our combined Oscar racetrack odds for Best Score, Zimmer is sitting pretty in pole position for “Dune” with 16/5 odds, ahead of his nearest rival Jonny Greenwood and his score for “The Power of the Dog” at 19/5 odds. The other Best Score nominees are all tied at 9/2 odds: Nicholas Britell (“Don’t Look Up”), Germaine Franco (“Encanto”) and Alberto Iglesias (“Parallel Mothers”).

Zimmer’s “Dune” score is also the undeniable front-runner among the numerous pre-Oscars kudosfests that chime in with their picks for the best of the year. He’s nominated for another Grammy, he won Best Sci-Fi Fantasy Original Score at the Hollywood Music in Media Awards, he won at the Golden Globes, Critics Choice, BAFTA and Gold Derby Awards, and was nominated at the Society of Composers and Lyricists Awards (which ultimately went for Franco’s “Encanto” score).

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