SEATTLE — Having Jerry Bruckheimer as one of your team’s majority owners has its advantages. The Academy Award-winning producer knows people and can call in a favor.
One of those favors resulted in German film score composer and music producer Hans Zimmer composing music for the Seattle Kraken’s pregame introduction. The Kraken got a two-time Oscar winner and four-time Grammy recipient to create an eight-minute soundtrack, which they will also play in television commercials throughout the season.
Bruckheimer, the famed movie and TV producer, was talking with team officials about what they wanted to do for this season’s pregame opening. He said he had a friend named “Hans” who could help if he had time. Zimmer and Bruckheimer have worked together previously, as the composer made the music for Bruckheimer’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” series with a song titled “Kraken.”
Then, the Kraken received an email from Bruckheimer saying that his friend was on board. From there, it created internal questions within the Kraken about whether or not the same composer who won Oscars for his work in “Dune” and “The Lion King” was going to do their pregame opening.
“I think [Bruckheimer] does appreciate the gravitas of having Hans involved,” Kraken senior vice president of marketing and communications Katie Townsend said. “I made very clear we need to make sure we are using this in the right way. That the visuals that accompany it are amazing and that we do it justice. But for Jerry, it’s a co-worker and a long-time friend. For the rest of us, we’re just in awe it’s the man that composed ‘Interstellar’ and ‘Gladiator’ and ‘Pirates of the Caribbean.'”
Bruckheimer asked the team to send Zimmer the videos from last season’s pregame open to study how the players burst onto the ice and what the environment at Climate Pledge Arena looked like.
While Zimmer was composing the music, the Kraken worked separately on the pregame video. Townsend admitted there was a little anxiety because the team wanted to produce a video that fit Zimmer’s creation. Townsend said she was driving back from her daughters’ soccer practice on a Friday afternoon when she received an email with the soundtrack. She and her husband “had goosebumps” listening to it at home, and then the Kraken had a listening session the following Monday. Bruckheimer and Zimmer’s engineers joined them on a phone call during the session.
“We can use it as a whole piece. You’ll see it in TV commercials. You’ll see it in the open,” Townsend said. “This was a gift from Hans to Jerry that … I don’t know if there is another professional sports team that can say their soundtrack or noise is composed by Hans Zimmer.”
Until recently, hardly anyone beyond the Kraken knew Zimmer was responsible for the music. Townsend said the team wanted to wait before letting fans know the full story.
“I wanted people to listen to and then do a ‘That music you’ve been listening to? If it sounds familiar, here’s why,'” Townsend said.
This isn’t Zimmer’s first time making compositions in sports. He also made “Living Football,” the official theme for FIFA with Scottish composer Lorne Balfe in 2018.