A Short Primer on Movie Posters - 5 Tips

Movie posters are great.

After all, where can you find a piece of hangable art (and many of them are definitely art) that combines superb, visual elements with a film that inspired or touched you. It’s the double-whammy of the art world, though similar to movie scores, it rarely gets its due as something serious.

But movie posters are increasing in popularity. And whether you want a few posters for a man-cave or want to delve into collecting more deeply, you may benefit from a few basics that can enhance your shopping experience and make posters more enjoyable to collect. So here’s a quick primer to get you started.

1.  A true movie poster that is collectible is one that was issued by a movie studio to promote its film, or one produced by a third-party printer hired by the studio to promote the film, often right around the release of the actual film. So for the release of Toy Story, Pixar either printed its posters itself, or hired a specific company to print the posters. A true original will likely be printed to send out to physical movie theaters for showcase in a light box, or at the very least, intended for initial promotion of the film. It is NOT a poster that was printed by some random company who bought a license so that it could sell the poster in Hot Topic or some other store. A collector once told me that if a fake poster is good enough, it eventually becomes an original, as it’s circulated, because most people cannot tell it from a real one. But to me, an original is an original, and a reprint or fake, is just that.      

2. The two, somewhat official movie poster sizes are 27x41 inches (mid 1980’s and earlier) and 27x40 inches (mid-1980’s to present). If you want an original poster intended for theater use, avoid the size 24x36. This size is normally a reprint or a licensed print. It is usually not official unless the studio decided to do a print in that size. Many posters on Ebay or Etsy are reprints of this size. There are other sizes of official posters, especially pre 1980’s (half-sheets, inserts, lobby cards, etc.) but 27x41 and 27x40 are the two, main sizes you need to know to get official posters.

3.  Single sided vs. Double Sided. Posters printed before the 1990’s were mostly single-sided. Famous posters like Jaws, Back to the Future, and Blade Runner are all single-sided. In the 1990’s, studios started printing a mirror image on the back of posters. This allows a movie theater to put the poster in a light box and shine light through it, giving it a more dramatic feel in the theater. That practice continues to today, and double-sided posters normally look fantastic, even without light pumped through them.

4.  Before the 1980’s, movie posters were seen simply as advertising, not collectibles. So posters pre-1980’s are more rare and many were destroyed after use or returned to the National Screen Service, who used to number all posters. More posters are printed for movies today than ever before, making them less valuable, but there is certainly still much value to be had if you make wise purchases.

5.  Ebay and Etsy can be great places to buy posters, but good feedback doesn’t always tell you that the items being sold are genuine. I’ve been burned by people with 1,200 plus sales and perfect feedback, meaning they’ve sold me fakes. Usually fakes are less crisp, printed on thinner paper, and may be a bit blurry. Order a few posters from a seller, but scrutinize them carefully before ordering more.

Hopefully this primer helps put you on the path to poster greatness. I find collecting, and particularly displaying posters, to be a blast. Feel free to keep reading posts for more tips and help on making your collection great!

Sincerely,

Le Fox Farouche

lefoxfarouche on Etsy.com
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