More Fun With Movie Posters
Scott Tunstall | Aug 18, 2010 | 14 comments
Like most plots these days, movie posters have a tendency to copy off each others papers. It’s easy to identify similar patterns if you look close enough. I’ve already covered the similarities in ads for romantic comedies and also spotted the use of the “stink eye” to promote several films released earlier this year. As luck would have it, another trend reared its head this summer. Notice anything simpatico about the following posters?
Jonah Hex
The Last Airbender
Inception
Dylan Dog: Dead of Night
I Spit On Your Grave
Back facing us. Head turned to the right. Weapon in right hand.
Talk about mailing it in. C’mon, Hollywood poster artists. You could at least try to be original.
It’s Hollywood. I’m not sure they know the first thing about being original. Also, seeing that Jonah Hex poster just reminded me of how awful that movie was.
Remember last year’s orange & blue in every poster trend?
In fairness I think the ‘Spit’ poster is based on the original 70s poster/cover
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ISpitOnYourGraveposter.jpg
Don’t forget the Dark Knight poster as well… at least one of them anyways.
http://the-reviewer.net/wp-content/uploads/the-dark-knight-joker-poster-500w.jpg
At least they aren’t using Trajan or comic bold red text on white.
Let’s not forget Clint Eastwood’s “UnForgiven” http://www.spartancops.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/unforgiven_poster.jpg
i work in hollywood designing movie posters. in our defense i have to say that originality is as important to us as it is to you. designers get respect from each other by making cool shit that nobody’s done before. the first round of a presentation to a movie studio is usually filled with these pieces. the studio then basically takes the worst one and shits on it for a several months until it looks like a formula poster. this is because formula posters work. if you people didn’t fall for the orange/blue thing or the trajan title font, or the big red comedy title treatment every damn time the studios would stop making us do them
More of the same…
Rambo: http://bit.ly/aniEKQ
Naked Soldiers http://bit.ly/aMYYli
For Your Eyes Only http://bit.ly/avVaEL
Every Man’s War http://bit.ly/czozTO
I blame the Creative Director not Hollywood. Everyone must listen to the Creative Director, designer, publisher, even the puppet that is the client. These images are all from unoriginal Creative Directors that approved this artwork.
“Be original” Come one, it’s Hollywood, for gods sake, where an original idea hasn’t happened since I dont even know when. All Hollywood can do is recycle everything they’ve already done over, and over, and over again!! I’m not surprized everything connected to that industry isn’t recycled over, and over, and over, again also!!
Thank the gods for independent film makers!!
You’re asking Hollywood to be original?
Hollywood, the town that eats it’s own vomit.
There are 500 – 600 movies released each year. Each one needs 2-3 posters which shows the title and the main character(s) in an interesting fashion and entices audiences to see the movie.
And you think finding 5 posters, two from movies few have heard of (and 1 from a movie everyone is trying to forget), out of 1200+ is odd?
You try telling graphic designers to create 1200 posters a year with the same requirements and see how much variance you get. Especially when posters that stray too far from the mold mean people don’t see the movie (and the client gets really angry).
For reference, here are the posters for this year. See if you see a common theme:
http://www.movieweb.com/releases/year/movies/2010
Are you kidding me? The style of the posters are dark and mysterious. Seeing the darkened outline of a person isn’t copywritten. All those posters have different styles. Go to school you moron.
It’s not the designers that are to blame, it’s all the marketers, CFOs, editors, and the long list of people with decision-making powers but absolutely no creative training or experience.
I can guarantee you that if entirely left up to the ACTUAL creative team, you’d see some fantastic work.
If you want to see how it can suffer, just look at the theatrical posters compared to the DVD/Blu Ray box art for the same titles. The posters will seem genius compared to the DVD art, which is always required to show the faces of the actors involved (among other things).
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