For a while now, Danny Elfman has been attached to compose the musical score for Michel Gondry‘s upcoming crime fighting action-comedy The Green Hornet, but it looks like a last-minute change is unfolding.

The Playlist is reporting that they’re sources are saying that Elfman is now out due to simply having too many other projects on his plate. They’re also hearing that the man currently in talks to replace him is James Newton Howard, who also happens to be handling the score for Green Lantern as well. Fancy that.

Newton Howard has been around for decades, creating the scores for movies like Pretty Woman, Glengarry Glen Ross, and The Fugitive. Dating back to 1985, he has accumulated 121 Composer credits for movies of all genres. For many (myself included) it was his work on most of M. Night Shyamalan’s earlier films where he really made his presence known, and even you hate The Village it’s hard not to love Newton Howard’s score. Other memorable more recent works include Collateral, Peter Jackson’s King Kong, and The Dark Knight along with Hans Zimmer.

The Green Hornet stars Seth Rogen, Cameron Diaz, Jay Chou, Christoph Waltz, and Tom Wilkinson. It will be released on January 14, 2011.