James Gunn, the director of next year's Guardians of the Galaxy movie has chosen a composer, and it's Tyler Bates. The announcement came via Gunn's Facebook page, the full text of which reads: "Grateful to be working with my favorite composer, Tyler Bates, on Guardians of the Galaxy. Unlike most films, Tyler writes huge chunks of the score first so that I can actually film to the music. During action scenes and huge dramatic moments we blare the score on set so that the cast, crew, and camera can move in harmony with the music. Music is often an afterthought in film, but never for us. And everything Tyler's done so far has been amazing!"
Bates should be quite familiar to fans of science fiction, horror, and superhero movies. His credits include both of Rob Zombie's Halloween films (as well as The Devil's Rejects), comic adaptations 300 and Watchmen, the 2011 Conan the Barbarian remake, and much, much more. While none of the Marvel films have yet distinguished themselves with a truly memorable score (although Alan Silvestri's Captain America: The First Avenger came the closest), it's worth keeping an eye on Mr. Bates' approach to Guardians of the Galaxy. Considering the retro space-opera look that Guardians seems to sport, it might be fun if the score reflected a little Jerry Goldsmith or John Williams. Time will tell!