Different Types and Styles of Movie Posters » The Poster Collector

Different Types and Styles of Movie Posters

| Poster Collector | 33 Min Read

Looking to find out about the different types and styles of movie posters? You have come to the right place, here will find information and examples of different styles of posters such as Advance/Teaser, Final, Characters, etc and types such as Double/Single Sided, Lenticular, Limited Edition, etc.

Double/Single Sided Posters

The concept of double-sided printing is nothing new and the movie industry had experimented with the concept as far back as the 1950s. There have been several major films that have released a double sided poster such as Breakfast at Tiffany’s in 1961 and Zulu in 1964.

When the National Screen Service (NSS) relinquished their control of paper distribution back to the movie studios, they started eliminating sizes and restructuring paper distribution, the concept of double-sided printing rose again. In the mid-1980’s, the movie studios reduced their distribution overheads by eliminating window cards, inserts, half sheets and drastically cut back on larger posters. At the same time, the movie studios started producing more expensive double-sided posters that produced a more realistic look to the viewer.

Movie studios produced both single-sided and double-sided posters. The single-sided posters are printed only on the front side with a white back, while double-sided posters have the same artwork on the front and back. The artwork on the back is reversed and produced in a lighter shade. Double-sided movie posters are normally printed on a slightly thicker paper than single-sided movie posters. These posters are then displayed in light boxes inside and outside cinemas. As the posters have a reverse image on the back, the double-sided printing technique gives a more vivid look to the poster with deeper colours and a brighter image when a light is placed behind it.

The doubled-sided movie poster is the result of a very expensive printing process which involves running the initial negative through the printing presses at a normal colour intensity. The movie poster is then reversed and run back through the presses at a reduced colour intensity, such as 30% to 40% of the initial colour. This is why the artwork on the front is more colourful and detailed than the reverse print on the back.

Double-sided movie posters are extremely popular with many collectors of newer materials. In fact, because of the increase in good quality reprints, some collectors will ONLY collect one sheets that are double-sided and will pass on their single-sided counterparts. For more information about reproductions and reprints see our article on Movie Poster Authentication.

Some video posters have been referred to as double-sided. However in this case, the backside of the poster is not just a lighter version of the front’s artwork they can have completely different artwork on each side. The poster may contain two different versions of the same artwork for the same movie, or, in some cases, the artwork is from two different movies and completely different on each side.

See below for an example of a double sided poster for the film, Avatar, showing the front and back of the poster. See how the back has less colour intensity when compared to the front and the image is reversed which enables the image to produce more vivd results when used in a light box.

Double Sided Poster

Advance/Teaser Posters

An advance or teaser poster is an early promotional movie poster that contains a basic image or design. They are designed without revealing too much information such as the plot, theme and/or characters. A tagline may or may not be included. The purpose is to raise awareness and generate hype for the film. Sometimes teaser posters are issued long in advance of a film going into production (teaser posters for cancelled projects are historically informative and due to their rarity valuable), they are generally issued during movie development. Some of the styles used for advance and teaser movie posters include:

  • Bearing only a symbol associated with the film or simply just the title.
  • None or very limited movie credits.
  • Words like “Coming Soon” are used internationally on the poster.
  • In the USA, words like “In Theatres This Summer” are used but internationally the word ‘Cinema’ is used instead of ‘Theater’.
  • The abbreviation “Adv” can often be found in the lower bottom corner. Alternatively the word “Advance” or “Teaser” is used.
  • A main character, looking away from the screen but looking at something in the distance.

On films with smaller budgets, usually only one poster is issued which is used as both as the advance and the final styles.

Main/Final Posters

A main or final movie poster is the last poster produced for a film. It contains more information than a teaser or advance movie poster. The included on these detail with generally include names of the film stars, the movies tagline, production crew information and the distributors information. Sometimes more than one style of a main or final posters is produced, however this is very much dependent upon the movies title and budget.

See below for an example of a teaser poster, advance poster and the final poster for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, released in 2016. See how the teaser lacks any information for the plot and theme but included the films title and a tagline, where as, the advance starts to build on the story showing a fight scene from the movie and includes the movies tagline. The final poster shows all the main characters from the movie, a slightly different angle on the same fight scene in the advance but lacks the tagline.


Rogue One Advance Poster 1

Teaser


Rogue One Advance Poster 1

Advance


Rogue One Advance Poster 1

Final

Character Posters

When a movie features an all-star cast, the movie studio and distributers may decide to produce a set of character posters. These will feature an individual character from the movie. Usually they will show the name of the actor or the name of the character played. They might even show a tagline about or words associated with the character.

See below for an example of character posters from the 2010 film, Inception, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page and Tom Hardy. See how the poster shows Leonardo DiCaprio’s character from the film, Cobb, looking menacing with his steely eyes and the tagline ‘The Extractor’. This is a direct link to the role Cobb plays in the movie – being a skilled thief, in the dangerous art of extraction, stealing valuable secrets from deep within the subconscious during the dream state, when the mind is at its most vulnerable.


Inception Character Poster 7

Inception Character Poster 6

Inception Character Poster 5

Inception Character Poster 3

Anniversary Posters

Sometimes, movie studios and/or independent printers will release a poster for a particular film by distributing what is known as an Anniversary Poster, which generally marks a milestone for a classic movie, for example, posters were issued for the 50th anniversary of Casablanca and the 20th anniversary release of the Star Wars trilogy (example shown right for Star Wars). These posters are generally printed in limited numbers (some are individually numbered) and are released for sale to the public. This is the major difference between an anniversary issue and a re-issue/re-release poster. A re-issue or re-release posters (see below for reissued or re-released movie posters) are issued by the studio directly to the cinemas and are not intended for public sale.


Star Wars 20th Anniversary Poster

Star Wars 20th Anniversary – Studio issued and released to cinemas but not to the public


Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs 50th Anniversary

Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs 50th Anniversary – Studio issued and released to cinemas and public

However, there has been exceptions such as, Disney’s release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (example shown left) where the studio issued a new one sheet which contained the banner ’50th Anniversary’ at the bottom. The poster was issued for advertising purposes only to coincide with the re-issue/re-release of the film to cinemas and was not intended for sale to the public. In this case, it is considered to be a ‘re-issue/re-release’ and not an anniversary poster, even though it contains the Anniversary banner. Incidentally, Disney then licensed the poster for commercial sale to the general public.

Anniversary posters are by their very nature a testament to the popularity of a particular film. They normally contain beautiful artwork and some are even printed on gold or silver mylar. There have been occasions previously where an anniversary poster contains original artwork which was created at the time of the movies release but was never used. This is true in the case of the poster released for the 10th anniversary for Star Wars.

While anniversary issues by definition do not fall into the category of original movie posters, they remain very desirable to certain collectors for several reasons. Firstly, only classic movies have an anniversary poster issue. Since the original poster on most of these classics is extremely rare and expensive, anniversary posters give movie fans an affordable alternative. In most instances, these anniversary posters are more beautiful than the original poster and as they are released in limited numbers gives them a collectible value. Quite often they are individually numbered (somewhere on the poster, most likely the bottom right hand corner) classifying them as limited edition.


Anniversary Poster 6

Fantasia – Studio issued and released to cinemas but not to the public


Anniversary Poster 7

Casablanca – Studio issued and not released to cinemas


Kilian Enterprises 1

Alien – Licensed issue and not released to cinemas but released to the public

Award Posters

Awards posters are those that contain an indication that the movie has either been nominated for or given an industry award such as an Academy Award, Golden Globe Award or BAFTA. In most cases, the awards posters are issued in standard sizes, for the USA one sheet and the UK quad; however, studios have released awards materials in other standard sizes.

It is common practice for a movie studio to re-issue or re-release a film that has completed its initial showing but receives an industry award. Typically when this happens, the studios generally issue a new set of advertising materials, and these new materials will contain some reference to the particular award won. In cases where the movie is still in cinemas, studios will pull all original material issued and release new materials with the awards notation.

The new movie posters will contain the notations such as Academy Award Winner, Nominated for 8 Academy Awards or Golden Globe’s Best Picture Award. An example can be seen below in the posters released for the film, The Revenant. The image on the left shows the original UK quad released for the title and following it nominations and subsequent awarding the poster was re-released highlighting its 12 Academy Award nominations, 3 Golden Globe Awards and 8 BAFTA nominations.

Since these awards are usually given to films after they are released to cinemas, any material containing an awards reference that are re-released to the cinemas are considered by collectors to be re-issues/re-releases and not original movie paper, however, they still remain collectible in their own right. The poster’s original artwork is usually changed or reduced in size to accommodate the award.

There have been cases where a poster may contain a notation of an award and still be an original issue. This generally occurs when a movie is first introduced to a foreign film festival, such as the Cannes Film Festival in France. If the movie has not already been released to the global market and has won an award, the the original advertising material may contain a slogan or symbol indicating that it has won a foreign award. These materials are considered to be original and can command a higher price than the standard issued material. If a film receives a smaller industry award i.e. not as prestigious as other awards, then the studio may choose not to re-issue new promotional material, but instead issue a sticker that can be placed on the regular movie poster.

With regard to collectibility, an awards poster is considered collectible particularly those from classic films. If a poster was not an original issue and all previous materials have been pulled from cinemas in order to re-issue new award posters, then the original unmarked posters generally command a greater price to collectors since there are fewer on the secondary markets. A small caveat to price is that value of a movie poster is also determined by market demand.

In summary, if a movie has received the award before it was released to the market and advertising materials were issued, then the movie poster containing the awards notation is considered to be an original. If the award is given after the movie’s release, even though it may still have been showing in theatres, the new promotional materials are considered re-issues/re-releases.


Awards Poster 3

The Revenant


Awards Poster 4

The Revenant Awards

Poster Styles

Some film studios will issue more than one style of it regular release movie poster. This tends to be for major movie releases, such as the example used below. Each different style is labeled and had its own unique artwork. The reasoning for producing different styles was the movie studios believed that they could appeal to very different segments of the movie-going public. As an example, one style could represent the a movie’s romantic side, while another could highlight the same movie’s action or adventure scenes.

While most movie studios would issue two variations of movie poster, some would release as many as four different styles at a time. These styles are usually clearly defined as they were normally marked as Style A or Style B. These markings were considered to be an industry standard and were employed by the majority of the movie studios. However, some studios like Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), would use Style C and Style D. During the 1930’s, some Universal posters were marked as Style X and Style Y. The style notation is normally found within the lower border of the poster.

Occasionally, a movie studio would have an early preview prior to a movies general release especially for movie critics. Once they had received their comments and were favourable, a separate poster would be issued for the general release called the review style. More information on the review styles can be found here. This style has less artwork which left room for the comments from the critics.

When the movie studios issued different variations of their posters, they may not necessary have printed the same amount for each style. In this case, the style with the smallest distribution would normally be considered more or the most collectible than the style/styles with the largest distribution. However, in some cases desirability can be linked to one style’s particular artwork which would make it more collectible but in most cases, the value of the movie poster is determined by the movie title, and not the style of the poster.

See below for an example of different style of movie posters issued for the 1977 film, Star Wars. Pictured below are style variants A, B, C and D. Although the posters were issued within a short amount of time of each other the artwork used and the illustrators who completed the work is different on each style. The artwork on the Style A, was completed by Tom Jung, the Style B, was completed by Tom Chantrell and the Style D, was completed by Drew Struzan. All highly respected illustrators in the movie poster world and some of the most collectible as well. So, which one is the most collectible and valuable? The Style C variation is the most collectible and valuable based on the vivid design which features all the main characters from the movie and was produced in small numbers. The most widely counterfeited or bootlegged are Style B and C with many examples widely available on the internet. For more information on counterfeit and bootlegged movie posters take a look at our article – Movie Poster Authentication.


Star Wars STYLE A

Star Wars STYLE A


Star Wars STYLE B

Star Wars STYLE B


Star Wars STYLE C

Star Wars STYLE C


Star Wars STYLE D

Star Wars STYLE D

Lenticular Posters

A lenticular movie poster is created using a specialised printing method which is different to the process used to produce holograms. The main difference between the two is that holograms produce a fantastic image when lit correctly but lenticular posters will look great in almost any kind of light. Lenticular are used to create amazing 3D images similar to holograms.

In order to produce a lenticular movie poster normally an image is cut into twelve different strips and weaved alternately to the next to produce a doubled-up image. This process is called interlacing and the image is then usually printed onto paper. If you were to view the image at this stage it would look like a confusing mess. Finally, a transparent plastic layer material is placed onto of the image which is made of dozens of separate thin, hemispherical lenses called lenticles. This  where the name, lenticular, comes derived from. The lens material is bonded to the paper. The lenticles bend the light passing through so half of the printed strips are blocked from view. As you turn the image or your head the image cycles through the twelve image which creates an illusion of movement.

The process to achieve a lenticular movie poster is complication and must be completed with incredible precision. The lenticles have to made to the exact size of the image underneath and lined up exactly. It is a very costly process to complete and achieve correctly, therefore, movie studios only printed them for big budget films and in very limited numbers.

There are different types of lenticular movie posters. The lenticular released for the film, The Santa Clause, was printed on paper. In order to see the image move or change, the poster would physically have needed to move or for the cinema-goer to have moved from side to side. However, there is another more limited version of lenticular such as the one used for the release of, Jurassic Park: The Lost World. This used a transparent paper as the backing which requires direct light to be placed behind in order to see the image change. These types of lenticular were used in light boxes which produced a moving more life like image.
Show below is an example of the lenticular poster from the film Jurassic Park: The Lost World. This poster is required to be used in a  light box in order for the correct visual effect to be achieved. As you move around the image it changes from a logo design into a Tyrannosaurus Rex jumping out at you.

Jurassic World Lenticular

Jurassic Park: The Lost World Lenticular

Mylar Posters

Mylar posters are released by movie studios or authorised printers and are classed as limited edition prints. They are printed on a sheet of mylar plastic that is then coated with either a silver or gold paint. The artwork is printed over this paint leaving gaps to allow the silver or gold base paint to show through. Due to the coloured paints used they can appear more life like, vivid and attractive to the eye. However, like the manufacturing process used on a lenticular poster, this is expensive to produce and are therefore only printed in limited numbers.

Shown below are three mylar posters. The first image is from the film Kill Bill. The poster which features a silver foil sword making it appear life like. The second image is from the film Star Wars. This is an advance poster featuring a black background and silver writing which makes the writing more reflective and attractive to the eye. The third image is from the film Superman: The Movie. It features a full silver foil background with the Superman logo printed on the top. These posters are extremely delicate particularly the Superman one and should be handled with extreme care.


Mylar Poster 2

Kill Bill Mylar


Mylar Poster 3

Star Wars Advance Mylar


Mylar Poster 1

Superman: The Movie Advance Mylar

Limited Edition Posters

The terminology limited edition was first used in the art world. Due to the expensive of buying original art pieces and their rarity reproductions were made in limited numbers. These were then offered for direct sale to the general public. They are generally of high quality and numbered individually. Prints then followed in animation art, where original serigraphs were reproduced and issued in limited numbers directly to collectors. In recent years, the limited edition poster has been introduced to the movie art world and sometimes issued as anniversary posters.

Limited editions poster by interpretation,  are not considered to be legitimate movie art because although they are released and/or authorised by movie studios, they are released to the general public for retail consumption. Due to them being released in limited numbers, some collectors consider them to be collectible. Generally, the artwork used is original and is sometimes numbered.

Although limited edition posters are released by movie studios, they are generally issued by independent printers. Three of the most recognised, authorised and independent printers are:

Film Prints, Inc.

Film Prints Inc 3 Film Prints, Inc. was an independent company formed from Reel Memories in Wichita, Kansas. Over the years, they have released a number of very beautiful and sought-after anniversary and limited edition movie posters.

Film Prints worked extensively with the Roy Rogers museum to create several great pieces that that were the last ones autographed by Roy Rogers before he died. They also worked with Turner Entertainment to create a 50th anniversary Casablanca movie poster as shown below left. They normally created their own artwork or used well-known established poster artists to create new artwork, with approval from the movie studio. The posters issued by Film Prints were quite often individually numbered.

Film Prints Inc 2By definition, the posters issued by Film Prints are not considered to be legitimate movie art because they are not released by movie studios in conjunction with the release of a film and they were released for sale directly to the public. However, because often their posters presented new artwork not available on any other movie or reproduced an existing image expertly, many collectors accepted these attractively created posters as collectibles.

Film Prints Inc 1Some of the posters that have been released by Film Prints, Inc. are 2001: A Space Odyssey US Insert (shown above left) which measures 36″ x 14″, Casablanca 50th Anniversary US One Sheet (shown left) which measures 39 3/4″ x 27″, Dr. Zhivago Anniversary US One Sheet which measures 39 3/4″ x 27″, Forbidden Planet US Half Sheet (shown above) which measures 28″ x 22″, Frontier Pony Express US One Sheet which measures 39 3/4″ x 27″, Heart of Golden West US One Sheet and US Half Sheet, It’s a Wonderful Life US One Sheet which measures 39 3/4″ x 27″.

Unfortunately, Film Prints, Inc. ceased trading in 2000 but the material produced still remain popular.

Kilian Enterprises

Killian Poster 1

Kilian Enterprises was an independent printing company founded by Jeff Kilian. Over the years, Kilian had released a number of very beautiful and sought-after anniversary and limited edition movie art posters.

Killian Poster 2

In 1985, with the permission of Lucasfilm, Kilian released the Star Wars Saga American One-Sheet Poster Checklist (as shown left) which has become known as the Star War Poster of Posters. This poster features pictures and information about every US One Sheet issued for Star Wars and its sequels up to the date of publication.

Kilian followed up these posters with anniversary issues for the Star Wars series (Empire Strikes Back shown below), Indiana Jones: Raider of the Lost Ark (as shown below), Alien (as shown below), It’s a Wonderful Life (as shown below) and The Day The Earth Stood Still. They also issued limited edition posters for Who Framed Roger Rabbit (as shown right), including two gold mylar Jessica Rabbit posters.

Kilian created their own artwork or used well-known established poster artists to create new artwork, with the approval of the studio. The posters issued by Kilian were normally individually numbered.

By definition, the posters issued by Kilian Enterprises are not considered to be legitimate movie art because they are not released by movie studios in conjunction with the release of a film and they were released for sale directly to the public. However, because their posters presented expertly produced new artwork not available on any other movie, many collectors accepted these beautifully created posters focused on artwork as collectibles.


Kilian Enterprises 1

Alien US One Sheet


Kilian Enterprises 2

Empire Strikes Back US One Sheet


Kilian Enterprises 3

Raiders of the Lost Ark US One Sheet

S2 Art Group

Metropolis - The S2 Art Group was an independent company formed in 1996 by Jack and Carolyn Solomon. They were based in Las Vegas having relocated from Chicago in 2001. They had six galleries in total based Las Vegas (4), Chicago (1) and New Orleans (1). Prior to opening S2 Art Group, the Solomons operated Circle Fine Art Corp until 1993. Circle Fine Art was a national network of 38 galleries that specialised in fine art graphics.

They were a diversified publisher and distributor of some the most attractive and elegant limited editions posters to arrive in the collectors market. These poster were printed using low-tech historic lithographic process and rare antique presses. They purchased these original 19th century presses which had been used previous to print vintage movie posters over 100 years ago. The posters are made one colour at a time and must be pulled through the press uniformly. They are all hand-numbered and signed by the artist involved. They were created as genuine fine art limited edition lithographs.

King Kong - S2 Art GroupAs well as working on their own limited edition lithographs, they worked with the American Film Institute (AFI) on a project to reproduce the API Top 100 movie posters of all time. This creation of movie art was called, Art of Movies. They had produced 50 of the AFI Top 100. One of the posters completed was for the 1937 film, A Day At The Races starring the Marx Brothers – Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx. An example can be seen below. The S2 Art Group produced their posters in 3 sizes – US Half Sheet 28″ x 22″, US One Sheet 41″ x 27″ and US Three Sheet 81″ x 41″. In addition to releasing the lithographs, S2 also produced a range of the same posters which were smaller and cheaper due to the materials used and size used, these variations are not as desirable to many collectors.

Due to the lithographic printing style used to reproduce these early posters they had an impression of being original movie posters. However, in order to be instantly recognisable as an S2 recreation they were embossed with their logo which was printed on the bottom. The posters completed for the AFI also show an AFI logo in addition to the S2 logo.

By definition, the posters issued by S2 Art Group are not considered to be legitimate movie art because they are not released by movie studios in conjunction with the release of a film and they were released for sale directly to the public. However, because their movie posters were printed using antique printing presses, show the early lithographic style, numbered and produced as a limited edition they are considered to be collectible with collectors of movie posters.

Unfortunately, following Jack Solomon’s death in 2012, the Jack Gallery & S2 Art Group brand was closed in 2013. The posters they produced are long out of print, however, the material still remains very popular and collectible.

Shown below are some of the lithograph recreations released from the S2 Art Group.


The Invisible Man Teaser - S2 Art Group

The Invisible Man Teaser


The Invisible Man - S2 Art Group

The Invisible Man


A Day at the Races - S2 Art Group

A Day at the Races

Re-Release Posters

In order to define a re-release movie poster we need to determine is what is considered to be an original release issue. When a movie poster is issued as part of the initial marketing campaign i.e. before and leading up to the movies release, then they are considered to an the original release movie poster. The campaign can consist of one or a series of movie posters such as teasers, advances, character and final types. Any posters issued after this initial campaign are not considered to be original release movie posters, these included award, anniversary and movie re-release.

Sometimes depending upon commercial ability a movie studio may decide to re-release a movie to cinemas. However, in most cases, the studio will issue new advertising material for the movies which are known are re-issues or re-releases. There are occasions were the original artwork is used but others will use new artwork. In most circumstances, the originally issued movie art will command a higher value than the re-issue/re-release, for example, a 1968 release would command a higher price than a 1974 re-release which in turn should achieve a higher price than a 1978 re-release. The year the movie poster was released will have a significant bearing on it direct value, therefore, its particularly important to know how to spot a re-issue/re-release.

By far the easiest method is to look for the NSS information located on the bottom border of the poster. On US One Sheet movie posters the NSS in the bottom right hand corner will in most cases show whether it is an original or re-issue/re-release as the NSS would assign the poster with the letter ‘R’. sometimes rather than use the letter R they could simply state the words ‘reissue’ or ‘rerelease’. On newer posters this can be a harder due to the lack of NSS information and in these circumstances we would need to check the copyright date against the movie release date. If this was later then this would indicate the movie poster to be a re-issue or re-release.

Not all re-issued/re-released movie posters are that easy to spot and therefore other factors should be considered. Maybe the movie poster has a reference to being an Oscar, Academy Award, Golden Globe or BAFTA winner. As these are not given until after movies release, this could be an indication that the movie studios have re-released a film to cinemas in order take advantage of its award hype. However, some film festivals such as the Cannes Film Festival will hand out awards prior to its release in cinemas. If this was the case the movie poster will be noted in some way to highlight it was a Cannes Film Festival winner but this is not an indication to it being a re-issued/re-released poster. Sometimes, small changes are made to a poster design such as the placement of the British Board of Film Classification or Classification (BBFC) and in the US, Classification and Rating Administration (CARA) rating, slight variation to the colour or a change in the studio logo.

Some other points are that shinny or glossy paper was not utilised in the printing industry until the mid-1960s but not widely used until 1970s. Therefore posters issued prior to this decade were not printed on this paper types and would automatically establish that the movie poster was not released until after the mid 1960s at the earliest. Prior to the mid-1980s movie posters were machine faded and shipped to cinema and distributers this way. If a movie poster is rolled and not machine folded this would indicate it was printed after the mid-1980s. However, there have been cases where finds of rolled material prior to the mid-1980s has been found but unless these were being sold by renewed poster dealers or auction houses I would be dubious of such claims.

See below for an example of an originally released and re-released movie posters for the film Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back. The image shown on the left is for the 1980 release depicting the ‘Gone with the Wind’ style which was actually withdrawn from being a promotional movie poster. The image in the middle is for the 1981 re-issue/re-release of the same film with a different image but in the bottom right hand corner carries the NSS number R810129 – which means it was re-released in 1981 and is the 0129 movie released that year. The third image is for the 1982 re-release and has with same image as the 1981 poster but with slightly different styling. The NSS information for this title is slightly different as it states One Sheet – Empire Strikes Back – Rerelease 82.


Re-Release Poster 1

Empire Strikes Back ‘Gone With The Wind’ Style


Re-Release Poster 2

Empire Strikes Back R1981


Re-Release Poster 3

Empire Strikes Back R1982

Review Posters

Before a movie is released to the general public a special screening will be held for movie critics. Following is special screening if there are enough confident and conclusive comments, a special review style movie poster will be issued for the general release. As these are released in conjunction with the general release of the movie they are not considered to a re-issue or re-released movie poster. If a review poster is issued after the movies general release and is used to coincide with a future showing then this is considered to be a re-issue or re-released movie poster. See here for more information on reissued and re-released movie posters.

A review poster is normally issued in a standard size, for example as Quad or One Sheet in the UK or as a One Sheet in the US. The principle purpose of a review poster is to highlight the positive reviews and comments that the movie has received. In order to accommodate these review or comments, the artwork is usually limited – see the example for Platoon below. These types of poster are generally issued with the regular movies promotional material. The poster is easily distinguished due to having little or no artwork, little or no credits and contains large type faces from newspapers, magazines or established film critics. Some review posters would also be highlighted by the NSS information, however, not all movie posters are marked this way.

Below is an example of review posters issued for the films Spotlight (2015) and Platoon (1986). The first set of images (Spotlight) show the transition of the originally released movie poster (left), into a review type poster and finally combined review and award poster by adding the Oscar and BAFTA awards and nominations. The same image is used throughout but gets cropped so that the extra information can be added.  The second set of images (Platoon) highlight a different perspective that the distributers went with this title.  One of the most iconic images is used for the international style of this poster (bottom left) but the review poster (bottom right) is completely different in design to the Spotlight one. Although the images of William Dafoe’s character (Sgt. Gordon Elias) is retained in black and white none of the other image is. The poster highlights the review that the movie has received from film critics.


Review Poster 1

Spotlight Poster


Review Poster 2

Spotlight Review Poster


Review Poster 3

Spotlight Review & Awards Poster


Platoon International Style Poster

Platoon International Style Poster


Platoon Review Style Poster

Platoon Review Poster

Video/DVD Posters

When a movie is released on DVD and previously VHS, the movie studio would issue a range of movie advertising material to be used in video stores. The reasoning is the same as it was for releasing material to cinemas – to generated hype for it release.

Previously, when movie where released on DVD/VHS, the movie studios did not issue promotional material specially designed for the video release. They would take the regular movie poster issued to cinemas and add a tagline to indicate it was for a DVD/VHS release. When cable TV companies began to compete with the video market and independent moviemakers who went straight to video found a welcome market in these stores. An avalanche of movies began to hit the video stores directly and bypassed the cinemas. that never made a theatre run. The popularity of video increased, the movie studio began to create and issue material which was specifically designed to cater for the DVD/VHS market. This meant that video stores often had artwork not issued to cinemas materials.

Direct to video movies that bypassed the cinema gained in popularity, particularly in science fiction and action and movie studios such as Full Moon and Vidmark released posters which featured fantastic artwork to coincide with these releases.

Video/DVD movie poster are fairly easy to distinguish from a cinema released movie poster. The credit information will have a tagline donated to being available on video, most studios would add home video to their logos, video posters were not released as double-sided material, many video posters have a price sticker and they come in a variety of sizes.

By definition, the posters issued for Video/DVD releases are not considered to be legitimate movie art because they are not intended by movie studios to be used in conjunction with the cinematic release but later with a video release. However, for hard line movie art collectors, video posters do not meet their strict criteria and are not acceptable as movie art. For the more lenient or specialised collectors, video posters are being viewed in a more positive light as movie studios would issue a video poster with totally different and sometimes more attractive artwork than their cinema counterparts. Certain collectors like to obtain all versions of the paper for their individual collections.


Braveheart Movie Poster

Braveheart Movie Poster


Braveheart Video Poster

Braveheart Video Poster
Image courtesy of eMoviePoster

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