"and all Spider-Man fans will instantly recognize his score for the Sam Raimi Spider-Man films."

Not so much. I love those movies, but I can't remember note one of Elfman's scores; they've been pretty forgettable.

How about bringing in Joe LoDuca? He was part of the whole Raimi/Tapert/Campbell group, but doesn't seem to have gotten to the next level with them; his highest-profile thing was Brotherhood of the Wolf in France. He's credited with "additional music" on Spider-Man 2, so hopefully that puts him in the running to take over on the new one.

Sam: Okay danny. For this scene i need you to write a score that will make the audience believe Kirsten Dunst is a glamorous model.

Danny: I've had it. It's just not worth it. I'd rather go back to waiting tables than to do this impossible crap.

It's a horrible thing when two people, especially who have been friends, have such a falling out. How can one speculate? We only really know these men by their work. I'm sure they both have sizeable egos - they're artists - they have to. Perhaps they've simply worked too much together and need some separation.

I love Elfman's music and movie scores there is always a familiar touch of him that you recongize when he's composed a soundtrack for a movie.

Since BATMAN, Elfman's scores have been largely forgettable. I don't see this as any loss or setback.

I like Elfman but most of his stuff sounds the same now. You could assemble a temp track for a movie, using his scores from all the movies he's done, and it would probably be just as good as paying Elfman to compose something original.

Elfman rules, but so does Sam Raimi, I can't really pick a side here. How could Raimi do something so bad that Elfman who is a great composer and ex friend of Raimi just say I had it and call it quits? Some things are just best left untold, Raimi comes off as a great guy but damn.....for this struggle to happen.......well...shit happens.

Elfman's composing rules in Tim Burtons films and numerous other films and cartoons. If Spider-Man 2 was a "miserable expiernce" could this mean that the next movie will flop? Or does it mean that Sam Raimi will definetly not return to direct a 4th? The franchise has also lost special effects man John Dykstra. Lets hope Raimi hasn't become a hot headed jackass and that none of the actors walk away from this project.

In interviews with the actors and when watching the test screenings, Raimi comes off as a fun intelligent and generally nice guy, were we all fooled?

What a big deal this ISN'T!

Danny Elfman is good, and he knows how to compose great themes and sequences.

However, he's NOT the only one and he's probably not 'the best' one available.

Sam Raimi has a definitive style that calls for numerous takes and impossible amounts of patience and time to get correct. If he doesn't like the way you said a certain word in a sentence, guess what? You'll need to repeat it until it's good.

If he doesn't like the way you hold a slice of pizza, he'll make you hold it the right way. He's not an ego maniac, he's a maniacally precise director who demands more than what his actors can give, simply put.

It's not a question of whether or not he's a "nice" guy. He did a good job with the first Spiderman, an even better one with Spidey 2, and I'm sure he'll out do himself in Spiderman 3 now that he feels comfortable enough to bring in more frightening elements of his style (just watch the Grudge to get an idea of how he can make a Venom or Lizard character scare the crap out of you on screen)

Danny Elfman is foolish for burning this bridge. It's not Elfman that the fans know and love at this point, it's Raimi and he looks like the angry underling who is pissed because he had to work so hard.

Well guess what - this is SPIDERMAN, not The Tick!

The Grudge sucked, anyways, we should fear actors and other staff who may also leave the project.

I met Danny Elfman a couple of times back in the mid-80's and my impression at the time was that he had the biggest ego I'd ever run across during my time in Hollywood. His use of percussion was pretty groundbreaking when he first started scoring. It's not like he hasn't made any notable contribution. He's probably the most prolific and recognizable film composer since Bernard Herrmann, but I'd be willing to bet that he isn't exactly pliable when it comes to his approach. My gut read on this is that Raimi probably asked for a lot of changes in what Elfman delivered and he took it personally. That's just speculation, though. Raimi may have become intolerable. The stress of working on a giant and hugely successful franchise has to be like nothing any mere mortal will ever experience. I can't even really imagine the level of pressure Raimi's had to be under. If he's walking around with rattan beating interns into unconsciousness it wouldn't really come as a shock.

i think raimi came onto elfman, and elfman was all like, "don't go there."

None of us really have even the slightest idea about what really happened, so speculation is completely pointless.

no no no, my sister's husband's cousin is a waiter in a big time hollywood restaurant and she overheard danny elfman's secretary talking about it.

sam raimi tottaly tried to make out with danny elfman.

Even thopugh Elfman has done the musical score for every one of Burtons films i rememeber them being in a fight when ED WOOD was being made and Elfman did not compose the music for it. Maybe Elfman is hard to work with? who knows, and who cares. The important thing is is that Danny is an excellent composer and his music is very memorable and trademark.

Speculation isn't pointless. Speculation allows us to explore possible ideas as to what went down here.

For those that say "The Grudge Sucked": The point wasn't that the Grudge had a great story (Go re read SpideyFan's post). It was that the scary scenes WERE damned scary, and to bring that element to Spiderman 3 would be great.

To those that say that "We should fear what cast members would leave" not to worry - most of them are contracted for three movies anyway, so they'll be forced to do it. We'll get all the dirt about it in 2008 or so.

And who really cares if Elfman isn't around to compose?? The are OTHER composers.

Elfman hasn't done anything noteworthy in ages, but neither has Raimi. Kiss and make up already!

I heard somewhere that John Denby, the composer of "The Passion of the Christ", will be composing Spider-man 3. I don't know if it is true or not, but despite what you think of the "Jesus movie", the film score to it was good. I heard that Denby will be composing X-Men 3 also. As for Elfman...I like John Williams better.

How can anyone forget J Williams Superman score? Hire this guy as a replacement.

Ok then. First of all if you couldn't remember 'a note of Danny Elfman's score' for this then you need to listen harder. Secondly the score perfectly suited the film, never outdoing the action, never conveying the wrong emotions and, essentially, never being intrusive (except for the hideous train sequence which was done by someone else anyway). Thirdly John Williams could not do Spiderman: the film is nothing like Superman and requires a totally different style of music (including the use of electronic music). Meanwhile since Batman, possibly the least impressive of his scores, he has been nominated for Oscars (Men in Black and Good Will Hunting), Golden Globes, Film Critic awards, Saturn awards etc. and has most recently won an Emmy for Desperate Housewives. The Spiderman movies were nominated for Saturn, BMI, Golden Satellite, Grammy and World Sondtrack music awards, and won more than a handful.

Yes there are other composers but what's the bet they just use some pizz strings to represent Spiderman instead of the soaring and cascading strings parts? These movies will probably make a whole tonne of money without Mr. Elfman's contribution, they, like X-men (the late Michael Kamen), will simply lose the touch that set them above more routine superhero films: the score.

They should use Howard Shore as a replacemnt.

Not only is he a very decent film composer 'http://imdb.com/name/nm0006290/' he also replaced Danny Elfman on Ed Wood after he and Tim Burton fell out.

If I was Sam Raimi I might deciding this was a cunning form of revenge.