Inspired by Tony Gilroy's upcoming film starring Pedro Pascal, the competition challenges amateur and semi-professional composers to create an original score using MuseScore Studio. Behemoth! arrives in UK & US cinemas on December 4, 2026.

London, Nov 5

Muse Group, the global leader in music technology and education, today announced a new composition contest in partnership with Searchlight Pictures, the acclaimed film production and distribution studio behind award-winning films including Nomadland, The Shape of Water, Birdman, and Poor Things. 

Created to celebrate the release of Tony Gilroy's upcoming film Behemoth! – starring Pedro Pascal as a gifted cellist returning to Los Angeles after twenty years of elite symphonic playing – the competition invites amateur and semi-professional composers across the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union to write an original two-minute score in MuseScore Studio. Running from Nov. 5 through Dec. 9, the contest challenges composers to write music for an imagined chase scene, with dramatic and original interpretations of the brief highly encouraged.

The winning composer will receive a Ruark R410 All-In-One Music System, a lifetime MuseScore.com subscription, a £1,000 Hal Leonard gift voucher, plus a major feature across Muse Group and Hal Leonard channels. A Behemoth! film poster and soundtrack vinyl are also included in the prize package. Full contest rules and additional competition details are available here.

"It's always exciting to see different art forms enrich one another. When a talented director and an incredible cast tell the story of a musician, and the soundtrack is created by some of today's most celebrated composers, it becomes something special. We believe in that kind of creative synergy, and we invite our community to support the release of Behemoth! by becoming a part of that story through music," said Jack Sutton, Head of Brand Marketing and Communications at Muse Group. 

Behemoth! follows Alex Serian (Pedro Pascal), a cellist from a family of musicians who returns to Los Angeles to perform on various film scores. Described by Searchlight Pictures as "a love letter to the music of the movies and the people who make it," the movie features a remarkable collaborative soundtrack created by the Behemoth! Collective, a group of nine acclaimed composers including Michael Abels, Emily Bear, Lukas Frank, Michael Giacchino, James Newton Howard, Henry Jackman, Nami Melumad, Brandon Roberts, and Alan Silvestri.

The extended collaboration will also include Muse Group interviews with members of the Collective around their creative practice, as well as additional social media contests and featurettes. While Behemoth! marks Muse Group's first collaboration around a feature film release, film music is already a major part of the group’s catalog, with almost 4,000 movie music publications across Hal Leonard and over 11,000 film scores available through MuseScore.

Director Tony Gilroy launches the composition contest:

‍

‍

About Muse Group

Muse Group is a global leader in music education and technology, operating industry-leading brands including Ultimate Guitar, MuseScore, Hal Leonard, Audacity, Audio.com, and MuseHub. The company serves millions of musicians, learners, educators, creators, publishers, and audio professionals worldwide through digital platforms, music publishing, educational content, software and audio tools. Founded by Eugeny Naidenov, Muse Group is led by a team deeply rooted in music, technological innovation, and its loyal creator community.

‍

About Searchlight Pictures 

Searchlight Pictures is a global specialty film and television company that develops, produces, finances and acquires motion pictures and series for both worldwide theatrical and streaming releases. It has its own marketing and distribution operations, and is part of The Walt Disney Studios, a division of The Walt Disney Company. Founded in 1994 as Fox Searchlight Pictures, the company’s titles have grossed over $5 billion worldwide, amassing 52 Academy Awards including five Best Picture winners since 2009:  Slumdog Millionaire, 12 Years a Slave, Birdman, The Shape of Water, and Nomadland; 64 BAFTA Awards; 35 Golden Globe Awards; and 10 Grammy Awards. 

Recent and upcoming releases include Radio Silence’s Ready or Not 2: Here I Come starring Samara Weaving reprising her role as Grace; Broken Lizard’s Super Troopers 3, the third installment of the cult comedy classic; Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine starring John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell, and Tony Gilroy’s Behemoth! starring Pedro Pascal. The company includes Searchlight Television, the division which develops and produces series for streaming, network, and cable partners, and earned a Primetime Emmy Award for Best Actress and an additional 5 nominations for “The Dropout'' from Elizabeth Meriwether, in partnership with Hulu and 20th Studios. Recently released for Searchlight Television is Meriwether’s crime drama “Furious,” loosely based on the 1987 film Black Widow, starring Emmy Rosum and Lola Petticrew.