The San Francisco Symphony is set to screen the 2002 horror classic The Ring on the big screen at Davies Symphony Hall on Oct. 20, 2026, with a live orchestra performing Hans Zimmer's score in real time as the film unspools. The 7:30 p.m. performance puts the deadly videotape and its seven-day curse back in front of Bay Area audiences, this time with a full orchestra reacting to every scream on screen. Tickets start at $69.
According to The Mercury News, the San Francisco Symphony will present The Ring with live orchestra accompaniment at Davies Symphony Hall, with the orchestra performing Zimmer's score live during the screening. The film program credits Zimmer with the music for The Ring, according to encoreplus.app, and the presentation includes one intermission.
Taking the podium for the occasion is conductor Jason Seber, who is making his San Francisco Symphony debut with this appearance, per the same listing. Seber served as associate conductor of the Kansas City Symphony from 2016 to 2022 and has conducted more than 30 full feature films, the encoreplus.app program notes.
A Cursed Tape Returns to the Big Screen
Directed by Gore Verbinski, The Ring is based on Koji Suzuki's novel and the 1998 Japanese film Ringu, directed by Hideo Nakata, according to the Amblin official website. The story follows a videotape filled with nightmarish images that leads to a phone call foretelling the viewer's death in exactly seven days, the same source notes. The 2002 American supernatural thriller stars Naomi Watts, Martin Henderson, David Dorfman, Brian Cox and Daveigh Chase, among others, per Amblin.
Zimmer's score for the film is listed on the composer's own website, which dates the picture to 2002 and credits Verbinski as director. Among the tracks named on the Hans Zimmer official website is “The Ring Theme (Wild At Air).”
Part of a Season-Long Film Series
The screening is one entry in the orchestra's Films with Live Orchestra series, part of its 115th season, which kicked off Sept. 8, 2026. The series also features Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, according to KQED. The broader fall and holiday film lineup at Davies Symphony Hall pairs classic films on the big screen with live orchestral accompaniment, as described by LIVE 105/Audacy.
The Film Series is presented in honor of Misty Tyree, whose legacy gift supports the San Francisco Symphony and its artistic mission, per the encoreplus.app program notes. A related online giveaway offered tickets not just to The Ring but also to The Nightmare Before Christmas and How the Grinch Stole Christmas, according to the Audacy listing, which also noted no purchase or payment was necessary to enter or win.
Tickets to The Ring with live orchestra start at $69, with the curtain rising at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 20. Those looking to relive the terror of a cursed tape with an orchestra underscoring every jump scare can find more details through the symphony's official channels.
