The International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) announced the IFMCA Award 2022 nominees on February 9. Musical scores from genre films and television appear up and down the ballot, and composer Bear McCreary leads the field with eight nominations.

McCreary’s nominations are for his work on the epic Amazon Prime television series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power based on the classic fantasy writings of J.R.R. Tolkien; the animated comedy Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank, which is a re-imagining of the classic 1970s comedy Blazing Saddles; the epic video game God of War: Ragnarök; and for his continuing outstanding contributions to the most recent of TV series such as Outlander, See, The Serpent Queen, The Walking Dead, and The Witcher: Blood Origin. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power received nominations for Score of the Year – the first television score nominated in that category in IFMCA history since the rule change to allow TV scores to be included was announced in 2022 – plus Best Television score, and for three different tracks in the Composition of the Year category, while McCreary himself was nominated for Composer of the Year.

The nominees for Best Original Score For A Fantasy/Science Fiction/Horror Film are:

• Avatar: The Way Of Water, music by Simon Franglen
• Crimes of the Future, music by Howard Shore
• Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, music by Danny Elfman
• Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, music by James Newton Howard
• Jurassic World: Dominion, music by Michael Giacchino

The International Film Music Critics Association will announce the winners of the 19th IFMCA Awards on the IFMCA YouTube channel on February 23.

The complete nominee list follows the jump.

SCORE OF THE YEAR

• AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER, music by Simon Franglen
• THE BATMAN, music by Michael Giacchino
• THE FABELMANS, music by John Williams
• THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER, music by Bear McCreary, theme by Howard Shore
• NOPE, music by Michael Abels

COMPOSER OF THE YEAR

• ALEXANDRE DESPLAT
• SIMON FRANGLEN
• MICHAEL GIACCHINO
• BEAR MCCREARY
• DANIEL PEMBERTON

BREAKTHROUGH COMPOSER OF THE YEAR

• MICHELINO BISCEGLIA
• ROBIN CAROLAN AND SEBASTIAN GAINSBOROUGH
• CHANDA DANCY
• HESHAM NAZIH
• BATU SENER

COMPOSITION OF THE YEAR*

*Note: there are six nominees in this category due to a tie between the nominees in fifth

• “Galadriel” from THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER, music by Bear McCreary
• “Leaving Home (Hometree)” from AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER, music by Simon Franglen
• “Mother and Son” from THE FABELMANS, music by John Williams
• “Númenor” from THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER, music by Bear McCreary
• “Sailing Into the Dawn” from THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER, music by Bear McCreary
• “The Batman” from THE BATMAN, music by Michael Giacchino

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A DRAMA FILM

• AMSTERDAM, music by Daniel Pemberton
• BABYLON, music by Justin Hurwitz
• EMILY, music by Abel Korzeniowski
• THE FABELMANS, music by John Williams
• LE TEMPS DES SECRETS, music by Philippe Rombi

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A COMEDY FILM

• GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY, music by Nathan Johnson
• THE LOST CITY, music by Pinar Toprak
• THE LOST KING, music by Alexandre Desplat
• A MAN CALLED OTTO, music by Thomas Newman
• SEE HOW THEY RUN, music by Daniel Pemberton

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR AN ACTION/ADVENTURE FILM

• THE BATMAN, music by Michael Giacchino
• ENOLA HOLMES 2, music by Daniel Pemberton
• THE NORTHMAN, music by Robin Carolan and Sebastian Gainsborough
• SUPERMARSU 2 [SUPER FURBALL SAVES THE FUTURE], music by Panu Aaltio
• VIOLENT NIGHT, music by Dominic Lewis

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A FANTASY/SCIENCE FICTION FILM

• AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER, music by Simon Franglen
• CRIMES OF THE FUTURE, music by Howard Shore
• DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS, music by Danny Elfman
• FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE SECRETS OF DUMBLEDORE, music by James Newton Howard
• JURASSIC WORLD: DOMINION, music by Michael Giacchino

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A HORROR/THRILLER FILM

• LOS RENGLONES TORCIDOS DE DIOS, music by Fernando Velázquez
• THE MENU, music by Colin Stetson
• NOPE, music by Michael Abels
• PEARL, music by Tyler Bates and Timothy Williams
• WEREWOLF BY NIGHT, music by Michael Giacchino

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR AN ANIMATED FILM

• THE BAD GUYS, music by Daniel Pemberton
• GUILLERMO DEL TORO’S PINOCCHIO, music by Alexandre Desplat
• LIGHTYEAR, music by Michael Giacchino
• PAWS OF FURY: THE LEGEND OF HANK, music by Bear McCreary
• STRANGE WORLD, music by Henry Jackman

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A DOCUMENTARY

• FROZEN PLANET II, music by Hans Zimmer, Adam Lukas, and James Everingham
• ONZE NATUUR [OUR NATURE], music by Dirk Brossé
• POLAR BEAR, music by Harry Gregson-Williams
• SECRETS OF THE SEA, music by Alan Williams
• WOLF, music by Matthijs Kieboom

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR TELEVISION

• THE ENGLISH, music by Federico Jusid
• INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE, music by Daniel Hart
• THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER, music by Bear McCreary, theme by Howard Shore
• MOON KNIGHT, music by Hesham Nazih
• THE ORVILLE, music by John Debney, Joel McNeely, Andrew Cottee, and Kevin Kaska, theme by Bruce Broughton

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A VIDEO GAME OR INTERACTIVE MEDIA

• CAT BURGLAR, music by Christopher Willis
• THE FAITH OF THE THREE KINGDOMS, music by Shigeru Umebayashi and Chad Cannon
• GOD OF WAR: RAGNARÖK, music by Bear McCreary
• MARIO + RABBIDS: SPARKS OF HOPE, music by Yōko Shimomura, Grant Kirkhope, and Gareth Coker
• A PLAGUE TALE: REQUIEM, music by Olivier Derivière

BEST ARCHIVAL RELEASE

• AMISTAD, music by John Williams; album produced by Mike Matessino, liner notes by Jeff Bond, album art direction by Jim Titus (La-La Land)
• BLACK PATCH/THE MAN, music by Jerry Goldsmith; Royal Scottish National Orchestra cond. William Stromberg, album produced by Douglass Fake, liner notes by Frank K. DeWald and Douglass Fake, album art direction by Jim Titus (Intrada)
• FRENZY, music by Ron Goodwin and Henry Mancini; album produced by Mike Matessino, liner notes by Deniz Cordell, album art direction by Nacho B. Govantes (Quartet)
• THE GODFATHER, music by Nino Rota; album produced by Dan Goldwasser and Neil S. Bulk, liner notes by Tim Grieving, album art direction by Dan Goldwasser (La-La Land)
• GOLDSMITH AT 20TH, VOL 5: MUSIC FOR TELEVISION 1968-1975, music by Jerry Goldsmith; album produced by Mike Matessino and Neil S. Bulk, liner notes by Jon Burlingame, album art direction by Jim Titus (La-La Land)
• JOHN WILLIAMS: THE BERLIN CONCERT, music by John Williams; Berliner Philharmoniker cond. John Williams, album produced by Ute Fesquet, Christoph Franke, and Oliver Kreyssig, liner notes by Tobias Möller and Richard Evidon, album art direction by Eva Reisinger (Deutsche Grammophon)
• L. A. CONFIDENTIAL, music by Jerry Goldsmith; album produced by Mike Matessino and Neil S. Bulk, liner notes by Tim Greiving, album art direction by Mark Shoolery (Varese Sarabande)
• THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN COLLECTION, music by Elmer Bernstein; album produced by Chris Malone, liner notes by Frank K. DeWald, album art direction by Nacho B. Govantes and Jim Titus (Quartet)
• MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS, music by John Barry; album produced by Mike Matessino and Neil S. Bulk, liner notes by Jon Burlingame, album art direction by Nacho B. Govantes (Quartet)
• WILLOW, music by James Horner; album produced by Douglass Fake, liner notes by Frank K. DeWald, album art direction by John Alvin and Kay Marshall (Intrada)

FILM MUSIC RECORD LABEL OF THE YEAR

• INTRADA RECORDS, Douglass Fake and Roger Feigelson
• LA-LA LAND RECORDS, MV Gerhard and Matt Verboys
• MOVIESCORE MEDIA, Mikael Carlsson
• MUSIC BOX RECORDS, Cyril Durand-Roger and Laurent Lafarge
• QUARTET RECORDS, Jose M. Benitez

[Based on a press release.]