King Kong

King Kong (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack album to the epic adventure monster film King Kong, directed by Peter Jackson. The film's music was initially set to be composed by Howard Shore, who recorded several cues for the film but opted out due to creative differences with the director. James Newton Howard replaced him and work on the film's score began in late October and was completed in late November, an overall duration of under six weeks. Howard stated that the film "[w]as the hardest to compose" due to the hectic scoring schedule as the film was set for release on December 14, 2005. The score was recorded at the Sony Scoring Stage, California and Todd-AO, Los Angeles. Recording sessions consisted of a 108-piece orchestra and 40-member vocal choir. The score is heavily reliant on ethnic and varied instrumentation as well as ranging vocal sounds. While Howard produced much of the film's score, additional music production was done by Jim Weidman, who also worked as the music editor. It was released on December 7, 2005 by Decca Records and received positive critical response. Howard's score received several accolades, including a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score. Development The film was initially set to be composed by Howard Shore, who worked with Jackson on The Lord of the Rings film series. Shore completed recording several cues in the film, but left the project in October 2005 due to creative differences. James Newton Howard was hired to be the film's composer after Shore's departure, and, after only two weeks, started recording the score at Sony Scoring Stage and Todd-AO in Los Angeles. As the film was scheduled for a December 2005 release, Howard was assigned to complete the score within five weeks, which he called the hardest challenge. To achieve this, he utilized six orchestrators and three conductors in order to record 15-20 minutes per day. The recording sessions involved a 40-member voice choir and 108-piece orchestra, with separate sessions for percussion, ethnic instruments, and solo voices. The sessions originated in New Zealand, when Shore was the composer, and was later relocated to California, which was a "scheduling nightmare," as most sessions were booked for November. Howard managed to record the score on weekends, and choral elements were recorded during night-time.