"Another reason why awards shows are stupid": Fans mock the Oscars after Hans Zimmer calls Dune 2’s score disqualification ‘stupid’

Hans Zimmer is one of the most popular music producers and music scorers in Hollywood. His notable works were featured in timeless hits like Gladiator, Interstellar, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Dune: Part I. Despite winning the Oscars for the first part, Dune: Part II was disqualified from the 2025 Oscar nominations.

As per the rules specified by the Academy Awards.

"In cases such as sequels and franchises from any media, the score must not use more than 20% of pre-existing themes and music borrowed from previous scores in the franchise."

The score for Dune II was more than 20%, leading to a missed opportunity to enter the 2025 nominations. The director, Denis Villeneuve, and Hans Zimmer did not agree to the decision as he argued that Part II was a new score.

"I don’t think this is over yet. I don’t accept this because it’s one of the most beautiful scores Hans has ever written, and I would love it, at least, to be considered ~ admitted Denis Villeneuve."

On the other hand, Hans Zimmer claims that 'it's stupid' to have the score disqualified. "What am I supposed to do, take all the character themes from the first one and make new ones? ... but I didn't want to go and bitch about it"

Netizens agreed with Hans Zimmer's POV and flooded the comments in unanimity.

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Fan Reactions to Hans Zimmer's claims

Award shows critic (via KNerd89/ X)

Users felt that Hans Zimmer's claims were justified. They joined in the notion and criticized the Acamedic Awards' rules by calling them 'stupid.'

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A user argued.

"Yeah that’s fair. And it’s not like this hasn’t ever happened before, I’m sure there’s plenty of sequels with scores by the same composer that reuse the same themes, like some scores by John Williams."

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Netizens acknowledged Hans Zimmer's contribution to the industry.

"Hans Zimmer is literally bigger than the oscars."

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An X-user opined about the disqualification.

"Hans Zimmer >>> Oscars if we are not wrong"

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Some speculated that it was a calculated move.

"They knew he would win."

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A user countered Hans Zimmer's argument.

"Maybe it just wasn’t good enough"

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A netizen questioned the rules.

"When a composer of Zimmer's caliber is called 'stupid' for not reworking perfection, something is seriously wrong with the system."

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An X-user remarked about Wicked's nomination.

"It just doesn’t make sense that Wicked was nominated when a lot of the score used themes from the original musical, but Dune 2 wasn’t eligible."

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Although Dune: Part II lost the nominations for the 2025 Oscars, it did win the Grammy's. Also, it secured nominations for the Golden Globe and Critics Choice Awards.