"Tron: Legacy" is enhanced by an inspiring electronic score by Daft Punk (Image credit: RLJE Films, HBO, and Warner Bros. Pictures) Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Get the Space.com Newsletter Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!
Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
Want to add more newsletters?
An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletterSome of the most wonderful Hollywood film scores have come from sci-fi movies, helping to add an evocative flourish to the futuristic visuals, dynamic characters, and imaginative worldbuilding.
Iconic music composed for classics like the "Star Wars" and "Star Trek" franchises, "Dune," "Blade Runner," "Alien," and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" is part of our collective experiences and seems inextricable from the iconic silver screen imagery.
Article continues below7. "The Matrix"
Composer: Don Davis | Release Year: 1999
An instantly recognizable score that plugs you into the surreal simulated reality of "The Matrix."
With swelling brass accompaniments and a full orchestration complementing the sinister strings and memorable synthesizer themes sprinkled throughout, composer Don Davis created a sexy techno-classical score for The Wachowskis' sci-fi magnum opus.
It's old-fashioned and modern at the same time, enhancing the striking visuals and set pieces. A huge shout-out to Davis's addictive scores to "The Matrix Reloaded" and "The Matrix Revolutions" too; that Chateau fight scene score is an absolute bop.
Get the Space.com NewsletterContact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors6. "Oblivion"
Oblivion complete OST - YouTube
Watch On Composers: Anthony Gonzalez and Joseph Trapanese | Release Year: 2013
Before "Top Gun: Maverick" and "F1," director Joseph Kosinski and Tom Cruise brought us this highly underrated (and slightly derivative) film that benefited greatly from a propulsive original score by French composer Anthony Gonzalez of M83 and musician Joseph Trapanese.
It’s a moody and majestic score, fusing electronic instruments with classical compositions to create something that bridges traditional action film scores with an edge of experimentalism.
Sure, the score does feel a little bit too similar to Hans Zimmer's more high-profile work at times, but it's a splendid effort regardless.
5. "Ash"
Flying Lotus - ASH (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) | Album Trailer - YouTube
Watch On Composer: Flying Lotus | Release Year: 2025
Composed by this grindhouse-style sci-fi flick’s director, Flying Lotus, this retro synthwave score will teleport you straight back to the awesome ‘80s and ‘90s.
Miraculously, the popular Grammy-winning DJ and musician holed up with his laptop computer and a MIDI controller in New Zealand to conjure up these nerve-jangling tracks to match up with and enhance his Lovecraftian horrors on a hostile remote exoplanet.
What he created was a psychedelic tapestry of eerie Carpenter-esque electronica that serves as a killer after-hours aural cocktail to sip and savor.
4. "Tron: Legacy"
The Grid (From "TRON: Legacy"/Score) - YouTube
Watch On Composer: Daft Punk | Release Year: 2010
One of the truly great movie soundtracks of the last few decades, and one that's on permanent rotation in my SUV's CD platter.
The French electronic musical duo known as Daft Punk manifested an unreal synthesizer score that instantly plunges us into the digital realm of the sensational sequel to 1982's "Tron."
85-piece orchestral tracks arranged by Joseph Trapanese are paired with driving electronic pieces, thrusting you onto The Grid. Fifteen years later, it's still unsurpassed for its cyberpunk originality and catchy riffs that energize and enlighten.
3. "Annihilation"
Annihilation - Ben Salisbury & Geoff Barrow - Soundtrack Preview (Official Video) - YouTube
Watch On Composers: Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury | Release Year: 2018
I wish I had better things to say about Alex Garland's screen-uneven adaptation of the first book in author Jeff VanderMeer’s freaky sci-fi series, "The Southern Reach," about a quarantined zone of the USA where alien biology has taken root.
Despite my feelings on the movie itself, the unsettling score is something else entirely and is a strangely evocative listen. Conceived by British musicians Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury, who also did the music for Garland's "Ex Machina," the score employs a chilling blend of acoustic guitar, synthesizers, orchestra, and even a '70s sound effects instrument called a waterphone.
Turn off the lights and surrender yourself to its haunting notes.
2. "Event Horizon"
Event Horizon (Score) - Michael Kamen & Orbital - YouTube
Watch On Composers: Michael Kamen and Orbital | Release Year: 1997
Techno meets classic orchestral passages in this hybrid sonic sensation for one of the best space horror movies of the decade, and perhaps even all-time!
Director Paul W.S. Anderson chose Hollywood veteran composer Michael Kamen, then paired him up with Orbital's (Phil and Paul Hartnoll) grim-dark electronic apparitions. What emerged was an outstanding union of musical influences that act as two great tastes that taste great together!
“I felt like they elevated Kamen’s works and he kept them on track as far as what was required for a movie,” Anderson told Space in a 2022 interview for "Event Horizon's" 25th anniversary.
1. "Blade Runner 2049"
2049 - YouTube
Watch On Composers: Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch | Release Year: 2017
Threaded with those ethereal Vangelis themes created for 1982's "Blade Runner," Zimmer discovers a gritty dystopian vibe working in close collaboration with Englishman Benjamin Wallfisch.
Director Denis Villeneuve ("Arrival," "Dune") enlisted the pair of Zimmer and Wallfisch to construct tracks that would elevate his brilliant visuals and galvanize the somber tone embraced in Ridley Scott's original masterwork.
Zimmer's signature booming drums are juxtaposed with softer electronic interludes that, amazingly, dovetail perfectly into "Blade Runner's" palpable melancholy emotion.
Jeff SpryContributing WriterJeff Spry is an award-winning screenwriter and veteran freelance journalist covering TV, movies, video games, books, and comics. His work has appeared at SYFY Wire, Inverse, Collider, Bleeding Cool and elsewhere. Jeff lives in beautiful Bend, Oregon amid the ponderosa pines, classic muscle cars, a crypt of collector horror comics, and two loyal English Setters.
View MoreYou must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
Logout MORE FROM SPACE...
1NASA astronauts joke around with an optical illusion on the ISS | Space photo of the day for April 15, 2026- 2Fly higher and longer for less with $120 off this sub-9-ounce Potensic Atom 2 drone
- 3A dark energy tool just created the most comprehensive 3D map of our universe ever: 'This is a major paradigm shift'
- 4Interstellar invader 3I/ATLAS is spraying tons of water into space every second. Jupiter-bound spacecraft JUICE discovers
- 5Go behind the scenes of NASA's Artemis 2 moon mission with NOVA's 'Return to the Moon' documentary tonight (interview)
