The collective, frenzied, and deeply mercenary magic that creates movies is perfectly represented by film choruses, a synecdoche for the cinematic art.
Hollywood scores tend to follow trends. The film industry is not very keen on taking risks, especially when it comes to film scores. Often, the director will edit the film using a temp track made of existing pieces, and it’s likely that the filmmakers will want something similar to their temp track for the final film. Choirs have always been part of Hollywood, but there are times when producers and directors seem to favor them more than others. The Omen (1976) with its imposing latinate choral opening, “Ave Satani,” started one such trend. Another one was started by Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Adrian Daub has observed something peculiar about choir music in movies: usually, we can’t make out the lyrics. Somehow, it matters to have human voices instead of an instrument or orchestra carrying the musical weight.