On October 14, 2005 Howard replaced Howard Shore as composer for "King Kong", due to "differing creative aspirations for the score" between Shore and director Peter Jackson. The resultant score earned Howard his first Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Score. His work on "Michael Clayton" earned him an Oscar nomination. He followed in 2008 with his eighth Oscar nomination for Edward Zwick's "Defiance". He also collaborated with Hans Zimmer on the scores for "Batman Begins" and its record-breaking sequel "The Dark Knight".