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September 21, 2007
My latest observation
Like any typical American, I like the movies. I'm a fan of going to the movies, and I love to talk about them. What, then, is the deal with movie posters?
Take a look at these two posters from a couple of classics:
Now take a look at the posters for two more recent pictures:
The first two are paintings or illustrations of the movie characters, while the last two use actual photographs. I've noticed that in plenty of other movie posters, too. When did studios switch from illustrations of the movie characters to using actual (albeit heavily retouched) pictures of the actors? Is the an attempt to distance oneself from the sophomoric comedies of the 80's? Hmm... Maybe not. I don't know how to explain it, but it is weird.
entry no. 967
Posted by oz115 at September 21, 2007 11:54 AM
Comments
The earlier ones were pushing the movie itself, the later ones were pushing the stars. Which makes sense - with the huge bucks that someone like Will Farrell gets for every movie, the poster and ads have to include a huge closeup photo of him, as if to say "Hey! It's a Will Farrell movie! Please watch it! We have his $20 million paycheck that needs to be recouped!" That wasn't much of an issue back in 1977 with the then-unknown Mark Hamill.
Posted by: Pete at September 22, 2007 11:03 AM