[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGytaGTK7j8]

It started, as these things so often do, with a question on composer Elliot Goldenthal's Facebook page: "What's the score?" Just a fan making simple conversation about the composer's music, past, present and future. The answer was a shocker: Goldenthal's camp confirmed that La-La Land Records was following up their great releases of the complete scores to Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992), each composed by Danny Elfman, with Goldenthal's complete score to Batman Forever (1995).

While Forever was the beginning of the end for the Batman franchise - director Tim Burton stepped into the producer's chair, and director Joel Schumacher turned Gotham City into a garish world of neon and over-the-top performances from Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones as The Riddler and Two-Face (not to mention a wooden effort from new Batman Val Kilmer) - the rousing, heroic themes by Goldenthal, a composer then best known for his work on films like Alien3 (1992) and Interview with the Vampire (1994) (for which he received an Oscar nomination), were a bright spot for the flick. Of course, it was overshadowed by a soundtrack featuring the smash "Kiss from a Rose" by Seal and other tunes from U2, PJ Harvey and The Flaming Lips, and while the score received a truncated CD release, fans have clamored for more.

Now, there is more. Goldenthal's camp confirmed the score would stretch across two discs, and La-La Land head MV Gerhardt did a tongue-in-cheek job of confirming things, hinting that the score - with liner notes featuring input from both Goldenthal and Schumacher - would receive a summer release, likely around the same time as Batman's premiere at the San Diego Comic-Con a year ago.

Fascinating news for film score and Batman fans. One wouldn't be surprised if LLL completed the cycle by releasing Goldenthal's score to 1997's Batman & Robin in the future - the only Bat-score to receive no commercial release.