Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Score

Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Score
Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Score
	2025 recipient: Ludwig Göransson
Awarded for	Best Score
Location	Los Angeles, California
Presented by	Critics Choice Association
Currently held by	Ludwig Göransson for Sinners (2025)
Website	www.criticschoice.com

The Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Score (previously known as the Critics' Choice Award for Best Composer) is one of the Critics' Choice Movie Awards given to people working in the film industry by the Critics Choice Association. It was first given out as a juried award from 1999 to 2001 and then competitively in 2002 onward.

Awarded forBest Score

LocationLos Angeles, California

Presented byCritics Choice Association

Currently held byLudwig Göransson for Sinners (2025)

Quick facts for Best Score, Awarded for ...

Close

Year	Composer(s)	Film	Ref.
1998	John Williams	Saving Private Ryan	^[1]
1999	Gabriel Yared	The Talented Mr. Ripley	^[2]

Year	Composer(s)	Film(s)	Ref.
2000	Hans Zimmer	Gladiator, Mission: Impossible 2, and The Road to El Dorado	^[3]
2001	Howard Shore	The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring	^[4]
	John Williams	A.I. Artificial Intelligence and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
	Christopher Young	The Shipping News
2002	John Williams	Catch Me If You Can, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and Minority Report	^[5]
	Philip Glass	The Hours
	Howard Shore	The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
2003	Howard Shore	The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King	^[6]
	Clint Eastwood	Mystic River
	Danny Elfman	Big Fish
	Gabriel Yared	Cold Mountain
	Hans Zimmer	The Last Samurai
2004	Howard Shore	The Aviator	^[7]
	Michael Giacchino	The Incredibles
	Rolfe Kent	Sideways
2005	John Williams	Memoirs of a Geisha	^[8]
	James Horner	The New World
	Gustavo Santaolalla	Brokeback Mountain
	Nancy Wilson	Elizabethtown
2006	Philip Glass	The Illusionist	^[9]
	Clint Mansell	The Fountain
	Thomas Newman	The Good German
	Gustavo Santaolalla	Babel
	Howard Shore	The Departed
	Hans Zimmer	The Da Vinci Code
2007	Jonny Greenwood	There Will Be Blood	^[10]
	Marco Beltrami	3:10 to Yuma
	Alexandre Desplat	Lust, Caution (Se, jie)
	Clint Eastwood	Grace Is Gone
	Dario Marianelli	Atonement
	Alan Menken	Enchanted
2008	A. R. Rahman	Slumdog Millionaire	^[11]
	Alexandre Desplat	The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
	Clint Eastwood	Changeling
	Danny Elfman	Milk
	James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer	The Dark Knight
2009	Michael Giacchino	Up	^[12]
	Carter Burwell and Karen O	Where the Wild Things Are
	Marvin Hamlisch	The Informant!
	Randy Newman	The Princess and the Frog
	Hans Zimmer	Sherlock Holmes

Year	Composer(s)	Film	Ref.
2010	Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross	The Social Network	^[13]
	Carter Burwell	True Grit
	Alexandre Desplat	The King's Speech
	Clint Mansell	Black Swan
	Hans Zimmer	Inception
2011	Ludovic Bource	The Artist	^[14]
	Cliff Martinez	Drive
	Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross	The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
	Howard Shore	Hugo
	John Williams	War Horse
2012	John Williams	Lincoln	^[15]
	Mychael Danna	Life of Pi
	Alexandre Desplat	Argo
	Alexandre Desplat	Moonrise Kingdom
	Jonny Greenwood	The Master
2013	Steven Price	Gravity	^[16]
	Arcade Fire	Her
	Thomas Newman	Saving Mr. Banks
	Hans Zimmer	12 Years a Slave
2014	Antonio Sánchez	Birdman	^[17]
	Alexandre Desplat	The Imitation Game
	Jóhann Jóhannsson	The Theory of Everything
	Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross	Gone Girl
	Hans Zimmer	Interstellar
2015	Ennio Morricone	The Hateful Eight	^[18]
	Carter Burwell	Carol
	Jóhann Jóhannsson	Sicario
	Ryuichi Sakamoto and Alva Noto	The Revenant
	Howard Shore	Spotlight
2016	Justin Hurwitz	La La Land	^[19]
	Nicholas Britell	Moonlight
	Jóhann Jóhannsson	Arrival
	Mica Levi	Jackie
	Dustin O'Halloran and Hauschka	Lion
2017	Alexandre Desplat	The Shape of Water	^[20]
	Jonny Greenwood	Phantom Thread
	Dario Marianelli	Darkest Hour
	Benjamin Wallfisch and Hans Zimmer	Blade Runner 2049
	John Williams	The Post
	Hans Zimmer	Dunkirk
2018	Justin Hurwitz	First Man	^[21]
	Kris Bowers	Green Book
	Nicholas Britell	If Beale Street Could Talk
	Alexandre Desplat	Isle of Dogs
	Ludwig Göransson	Black Panther
	Marc Shaiman	Mary Poppins Returns
2019	Hildur Guðnadóttir	Joker	^[22]
	Michael Abels	Us
	Alexandre Desplat	Little Women
	Randy Newman	Marriage Story
	Thomas Newman	1917
	Robbie Robertson	The Irishman

Year	Composer(s)	Film	Ref.
2020	Jon Batiste, Trent Reznor, and Atticus Ross	Soul	^[23]
	Alexandre Desplat	The Midnight Sky
	Ludwig Göransson	Tenet
	James Newton Howard	News of the World
	Emile Mosseri	Minari
	Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross	Mank
2021	Hans Zimmer	Dune	^[24]
	Nicholas Britell	Don't Look Up
	Jonny Greenwood	The Power of the Dog
	Jonny Greenwood	Spencer
	Nathan Johnson	Nightmare Alley
2022	Hildur Guðnadóttir	Tár	^[25]
	Alexandre Desplat	Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
	Michael Giacchino	The Batman
	Hildur Guðnadóttir	Women Talking
	Justin Hurwitz	Babylon
	John Williams	The Fabelmans
2023	Ludwig Göransson	Oppenheimer	^[26]
	Jerskin Fendrix	Poor Things
	Michael Giacchino	Society of the Snow
	Daniel Pemberton	Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
	Robbie Robertson (posthumous)	Killers of the Flower Moon
	Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt	Barbie
2024	Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross	Challengers
	Volker Bertelmann	Conclave
	Daniel Blumberg	The Brutalist
	Kris Bowers	The Wild Robot
	Clément Ducol and Camille	Emilia Pérez
	Hans Zimmer	Dune: Part Two
2025	Ludwig Göransson	Sinners
	Alexandre Desplat	Frankenstein
	Jonny Greenwood	One Battle After Another
	Daniel Lopatin	Marty Supreme
	Max Richter	Hamnet
	Hans Zimmer	F1

Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Score

Winners and nominees

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Multiple winners

4 wins

3 wins

2 wins

Multiple nominations (3 or more)

12 nominations

11 nominations

8 nominations

7 nominations

6 nominations

4 nominations

3 nominations

See also

References

Related Articles