When Black Widow does finally hit theaters (or Disney+, which doesn’t seem like such a crazy idea), it will do so with an entirely different score. Film Music Reporter, which reports on music in film (obviously, you lunkheads), reveals that Marvel is scrapping the original Black Widow score from Oscar-winning composer Alexandre Desplat. His score will be replaced by a new one from Scottish composer Lorne Balfe, whose recent credits include Mission: Impossible – Fallout, The Lego Batman Movie, and another Scarlett Johansson blockbuster (the problematic one). Balfe has collaborated with Hans Zimmer on numerous scores, providing additional music for films like Inception and The Dark Knight, and he worked with Ramin Djawadi on the score for Iron Man, so he has at least some familiarity with the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Black Widow was originally set to hit theaters in May, but Marvel delayed its release indefinitely in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s unclear when movie theaters will be back up and running, though some have speculated that we might not see a new theatrical release until this fall. This week, Sony shifted release dates for its major upcoming titles, pushing Morbius and Ghostbusters: Afterlife—two of this summer’s high-profile releases—back to 2021. Marvel could very well follow suit by pushing Black Widow and possibly The Eternals back to 2021. There’s also the possibility that the studio could drop Black Widow, which is currently in post-production, on Disney+. Given that we have no idea when movie theaters will be accessible again, that’s not out of the realm of possibility.