‘Shredding the Multiverse’ re-imagines some of best music from ‘Star Wars,’ ‘Spider-Man,’ ‘Cobra Kai,’ more

As many devoted movie and TV fans know, sometimes a scene or an episode can be elevated or derailed by the music.

Instrumental compositions in particular are vital when it comes to setting proper mood and tone. And on the cusp of San Diego Comic-Con, a group of composers known for their work on sci-fi, action and fantasy projects are coming together to showcase their award-winning music in a live concert.

The event, called “Shredding the Multiverse,” takes place Tuesday at UC San Diego’s Epstein Family Amphitheater, less than 48 hours before Comic-Con formally kicks off its 2026 schedule.

Songs from such shows as “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man,” “Star Wars: Skeleton Crew,” “The Penguin,” “Cobra Kai” and more are being reimagined in advance of a 90-minute performance by an ensemble of Los Angeles-area based studio musicians.

Guiding the show will be composers Mick Giacchino (“The Penguin,” “Muppet Mayhem”), Zach Robinson and Leo Birenberg (“Cobra Kai”) as the special, one-time-only concert explores the music behind a number of popular shows of the past and present.

“The concert is going to be a celebration of the shows and films that we’ve worked on,” Giacchino told Times of San Diego in an exclusive interview. “These franchises and stories are things that I’ve been a huge fan of for my entire life. It’s just so surreal to get to work on them.”

“I remember working on (the “Star Wars” miniseries) “Skeleton Crew” and it was the last episode, kind of the final battle,” he said. “Later in the evening, I was just looking at the screen and I just was giggling because this is exactly the thing I loved as a kid. And now I get to try to create something that hopefully, kids of a future generation will enjoy the same way that I did growing up.”

Giacchino, who won an Emmy for his work on “The Penguin,” said that “Shredding the Multiverse” came together in large part thanks to his aunt, Hollywood producer and event manager Maria Giacchino, who has done a lot of live concert work.

She acted as the composers’ liaison with UCSD. They were on the university’s radar due to a brief album release-style concert that the trio had performed last year to promote the “Penguin” and “Cobra Kai” soundtracks.

“My aunt Maria was speaking to UCSD (and) they expressed interest in doing something with the three of us and they liked the idea of what we did last year,” Giacchino explained. “So, we’re expanding on that concept this year and doing a whole show.”

Giacchino said the concert will consist of two 45-minute sets split between his music and that of Robinson and Birenberg, who are known for their tension-building instrumentals on “Cobra Kai,” which were supplemented by 1980s-style synth-wave, heavy metal and traditional orchestral elements.

The music’s in tune with the movie franchise that spawned the show, the original “Karate Kid” films, which launched in 1984.

Giacchino said there will be a just a couple of rehearsals before the concert, but the prep work by him and his fellow composers is extensive due to the size of the ensemble.

“We’re gonna have a core band, so we’ll have bass, guitar, drums, keyboards and then two percussionists. And then we’ll also have a trombone player, trumpet, saxophone and then a string quartet,” he explained.

“I can’t speak for Zach and Leo on this, but at least for my set (of music), I tried to make sure that I was covering kind of the main themes from the films and TV shows that I’ve worked on,” he added. “But also, it was definitely a challenge of ‘alright, what can I arrange for this specific ensemble?’ Because you know, some of the music is going to sound closer to what it sounded like (on the screen). The ‘Muppets Mayhem’ score was rock & roll, and so that will translate very well.

“But ‘Skeleton Crew,’ which is an orchestral score, is going to sound very different; we’re gonna have a little bit of fun with it and kind of put it into a rock band setting,” he said. “It should be a good time.”