Just a few years ago, “film music in concert” translated to short suites by big-name movie composers (Henry Mancini, John Williams) performed at summer pops concerts. Today, established American orchestras that once didn’t look at the merging of screen and music seriously, take heed of live-to-picture performances as very big business, with concert halls packing in audiences around the world.
That’s something of a surprise, considering how most classical musicians had traditionally looked down their collective noses at movie music. “Film music was a pejorative, and that was the end of it,” David Newman says. Now they see the attendance figures, and attitudes have changed considerably.
Indeed, just a month ago, the New York Philharmonic completed a three-week, four-film “Star Wars” series with Newman conducting John Williams’ scores for the original trilogy plus “The Force Awakens” to sold-out crowds at New York’s David Geffen Hall. “The orchestra absolutely killed it,” says Newman. “I don’t think it could be played any better.”
And the possibilities aren’t limited to films. TV shows including “Game of Thrones” and “House of Cards” are placing music-and-montage center stage, offering variations on the live-to-pic presentation involving singers and dancers augmenting the film in real-time. A superstar composer such as Hans Zimmer, meanwhile, is drawing tens of thousands to his rock-concert-style performances.
“There is an ever-growing expansion of the marketplace,” says Jamie Richardson, producer for Film Concerts Live!, which presents other classic Williams scores including “E.T.,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Jurassic Park,” “Jaws” and the just-announced “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” Its 2017 bookings have already surpassed those from last year, “and that is with a lot more product in the marketplace” such as the “Harry Potter” films, offered by CineConcerts, the “Star Wars” films, controlled by Disney/Lucasfilm, and others.
Steve Linder, another producer with Film Concerts Live! and a veteran of film-music presentation dating back to the ’90s, points out that improvements in technology have made it easier for orchestras to take on a live-to-film presentation, which requires digital projection capabilities and sometimes click-track synchronization devices.
And, symphony planners are realizing, there is an ancillary benefit: “Orchestras have routinely reported to us that anywhere from 60% to 70%, sometimes 80%, of the people at our concerts, are hearing a symphony orchestra live for the first time,” says Richardson. “The hope is that some will come back and experience Beethoven and Mozart as well.”
There’s no doubt that it’s profitable. According to live entertainment trade Pollstar, box office grosses for Live Nation’s “Game of Thrones Live Concert Experience,” which played across North America earlier this year, often approached or exceeded $1 million per date in venues including New York’s 28,790-capacity Madison Square Garden and L.A.’s 17,500-seater the Forum. That rivals revenue of an A-list pop star’s sold-out stops.
A 2018 tour has just been announced, including Europe and the U.S., again with “Game of Thrones” composer Ramin Djawadi conducting.
“I decided to make this a hybrid,” Djawadi tells Variety. “Between the traditional orchestra concert and more contemporary things that you might see in a rock concert, pyro, snow … it embraces the audience more.”
And if fans are looking for clues to what’s coming next, they may find some in concert. It’s like “a two-hour trailer for the next season,” quips the composer. “You really get a breakdown of the characters and the plot.” For the new tour, “they will see a whole new show; we are completely redesigning the stage,” he says. In each city he conducts a 40-piece orchestra and 20-voice choir.
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