Jungle Cruise

Jungle Cruise (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack album to the 2021 film Jungle Cruise, featuring original score composed by James Newton Howard. In addition to the score, a re-written film version of "Nothing Else Matters" performed by Metallica, from their 1991 studio album Black Album, was featured in the film and in the soundtrack. It was released on July 30, 2021, along with the soundtrack album distributed by Walt Disney Records. The score was recorded at Sony Scoring Stage in February 2020 and concluded in late-2021, despite sessions being halted due to COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Los Angeles Master Chorale choir also provided vocals for the track. The score received positive response, with praise directed towards Howard's composition, ethnic instrumentation and orchestral sounding. Development In January 2019, it was announced that James Newton Howard joined the production as the film score composer. The score was recorded in February 2020 by a 99-person orchestra, with vocals provided by 40 members from the Los Angeles Master Chorale. At that time, it was the last film score to be recorded at the Sony Scoring Stage in Culver City, California, which was temporarily shut down in March 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, and sessions resumed in late-2021, when restrictions were lifted, but with limited members at the studio. In order to add a "regional flavor", Howard incorporated panpipes and Brazilian percussion instruments. Howard said "It has a wonderful retro feel, like an adventure movie from the 1940s, so it was immensely gratifying". Several themes were produced for the characters and situations in the film, that needed an ethnic and instrumental touch. By August 2020, it was revealed that Metallica collaborated with Howard on an instrumental version of the song "Nothing Else Matters", for the film. According to the band's drummer Lars Ulrich, Metallica worked on the film after Walt Disney Pictures president Sean Bailey felt like Jungle Cruise was "the right fit" for a collaboration between Disney and Metallica. Bailey had been "always looking for the right match where there was a way that Metallica could contribute to some Disney project". They began re-writing the orchestral version of the track by September 2020, while the band members recorded their parts from their individual studios, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Frequent Metallica collaborator Greg Fidelman served as associate producer and engineer.