There’s Something About Movie Posters

“Come on, Ilena,” many of you must be saying now. “You’re writing this blog just to promote your web site.” 

 Well, you’re right. I admit to some self promotion. Still, if you are a regular reader of my blog, you’ll know that not every post talks about my site. Like the masthead states, this blog is about movie posters, collecting and pop culture as it relates to the movie industry. This entry will be about movie posters and it is proof that I’m not the only one who thinks a movie poster would look great hanging from a wall. A writer from eHow.com, BaileyS feels the same way.  Read her post here:
http://www.ehow.com/how_5384315_use-movie-posters-decorating.html

BaileyS gives some great advice on how to pick the right poster and on the mechanics of framing and hanging the poster. Still, picking and hanging the right movie poster aside, what is it about movie posters that is so fascinating and causes people to spend $310,000 just to have one to hang on their wall?

Well, here is what I think:

1.) Coolness—Movie posters have a certain aura around them. Having a poster, be it a blockbuster like Star Wars or Raiders of the Lost Ark or something from the art house like Metropolis or Eraserhead, sets you apart from the folks who had a poster featuring their favorite band or a famous pin-up du jour. It was as if the movie poster owner had an inside track on coolness and if another person found favor with the movie poster owner then the movie poster owner would share his or her secret on coolness.

2.) Scarcity—They aren’t available in stores. Before the Internet, a person had to buy a movie poster from a dealer or rescue a poster from a movie theater dumpster. Think about it, if movie posters were available for $5.99 at Wal-Mart, would anyone treat them with such reverence?

3.) They Advertise Movies—Even with all the choices we have for entertainment, movies still have the power take us to a place where the “…villain goes to jail and the hero goes free.” Movies, especially Hollywood movies, are escapist cinema at its best.  Why else would they continue to make money.

Well, that’s the story for this week. Tune next for another exciting blog. Okay, so the entries aren’t exciting, but they are informative.

Best Picture Will Be One of 10, Not One of Five

A recent AP story that appeared in the September 11, 2009 Bucks County (PA) Courier Times states that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the people behind the Oscars, will experiment with having 10 best-picture nominees, instead of just five, for the 2010 Academy Awards. 

Of course, the reaction in Hollywood ranged from “wait and see” to “absolutely not”.  This change isn’t without precedent.  From 1931 to 1943, the Academy Awards had 10 best-picture nominees. While I don’t watch the Academy Awards ceremony because the program is too long, (this blogger has a day job, you know), I’m on the “wait and see” side.  Maybe, as the article states, doing this will open up the best-picture and other categories to other genres, such as comedies and science fiction.

Most of the time, the Oscars go to “serious” films like The English Patient and Brokeback Mountain.  Not that there is anything wrong with serious, dramatic films.  Still, those aren’t the only kind of movies being made.  How about having other films, like The Dark Knight get more than just a “Best Supporting Actor” award?  (If you haven’t seen The Dark Knight get the DVD and you will see what a great performance Heath Ledger gave as “The Joker” in the film.) 

Yet, I also see the side of people like actor Matt Damon and director Peter Jackson who are concerned that the best picture category will get diluted with films that aren’t that strong.  Members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had a hard enough time picking five nominees for best-picture.  Picking 10 nominees won’t be any easier.  Also, there was a huge amount of lobbying by people in the Academy for the films they felt were Oscar-worthy when there were just five nominees.  Now that there are 10 nominees, movie industry lobbying will be taken up to such a level that could make the lobbyists in Washington blush. 

Maybe the answer isn’t more nominees, but an attitude change whereby the members of the Academy realize that it isn’t just the dramas that “have something to say”.  There are comedies and blockbusters that are worthy of an Oscar.  Taking The Dark Knight as an example, yes it was a superhero movie, but it explored issues of good and evil in a way that few films have done.  I saw it in a movie theater in 2008 and I still think about.  A good movie is a good movie, whether it makes $10 million dollars or $100 million dollars, whether it have loads of special effects or none.  So, how about honoring the good movie, regardless of the genre? After all, I bet the Merchant/Ivory offices are starting to run out of shelf space, considering all the Oscars their films have won.

The 82^nd Academy Awards will take place on March 7, 2010.

Foreign Movie Posters

You didn’t think I was going to stop at U.S. movie posters, now did you? Thanks to the Internet, a collector can get movie posters from other countries, as well as from the U.S. Many times these foreign posters feature American blockbusters. Che sera, sera.

So, for your dining and dancing pleasure, here is some information about foreign movie posters. Again, this is not an all inclusive list. If you have information about sizes and styles not listed here, please email me and I will list them in a future entry.

United Kingdom Movie Poster Sizes
• Quad 30 x 40 inches, landscape format. American films playing in the U.K. use this format it has different artwork from the U.S. One Sheet.

• Train Station Billboard 40 x 60 inches. This is used in train stations, hence the name.

French Movie Poster Sizes
• Petite 15 x 21 inches. Printed in French (obviously) and has the French title of the movie with the American title in parenthesis.

• Medium 24 x 32 inches. A little smaller than an U.S. One Sheet.

• Large 47 x 63 inches. If I saw a poster that was 47 x 63 inches, I would call it “Large”, as well.

• Bus Station/Train Station Kiosk 48 x 72 inches. This is a recent development and this type of poster is found in bus and train stations, of course.

Australian Movie Poster Sizes
• Day Bill 30 x 13 inches, landscape format. American films playing in Australia use this format and it has different artwork from the U.S. One Sheet.

Polish Movie Posters
From the 1950’s to the 1980’s in Poland, the artwork of a movie poster was creatively rendered by an artist.  These posters were related to their U.S. counterparts in title only. These posters are amazing works of art and a testament to the ingenuity and imagination of the individual artist. Words don’t do this kind of poster justice. You have to see a Polish movie poster for yourself. Thankfully, there is the Internet. There are many sites dedicated to the artwork of Polish movie posters. (I typed Polish Movie Posters on Google for this blog entry and over 580,000 sites were listed.) One site that I want to point out is retroCRUSH.com This site has pictures of 35 Polish movie posters that I think are very cool. If you want to see this collection for yourself, check it out here:
http://www.retrocrush.com/archive2006/polishposters/

So, when you see the phrases like UK Quad, French Petite, Australian Day Bill or Polish movie poster used, you won’t wonder what those words means.

Sources: http://www.moviegoods.com/all-about-posters.asp     http://www.retrocrush.com/archive2006/polishposters/

U.S. Movie Poster Sizes

Would you believe that before 1985, there were many different movie posters sizes in use in the U.S.?  Yes, it’s true. They ranged from One Sheets, which are 27 x 40 or 41 inches and feature artwork in a portrait format, (what everyone imagines a movie poster to be) to Half Sheets, which are 28 x 22 inches and printed on card stock to Lobby Cards, which are 11 x 14 inches and loads of stuff in between. After 1985, the dominant movie posters size used in movie theaters in the United States has been the One Sheet.

Yet, for the longest time, unless the poster’s dimensions were spelled out, I had no idea what One Sheet, Lobby Card and other names meant. I figured other people were in the same predicament. So, I searched around the Internet and I found the definitions of movie poster sizes used in the U.S. Of course, this is not a definitive list. If you have information about sizes and styles not listed here, please email me and I will list them in a future entry.

United States Movie Poster Sizes

• One Sheet 27 x 40 or 41 inches, portrait format.  This has been the dominate size for movie posters since 1985.
• Display or Half Sheet 22 x 28 inches, landscape format. This size has been used from 1910’s until the mid 1980’s.
• Insert 14 x 36 inches, portrait format.  This is the earliest of movie poster sizes.  Like the Half Sheet, this has been used from 1910’s to the mid 1980’s.
• Window Card 14 x 22 inches (standard) – 10 x 18 inches (mini) – 22 x 28 inches (jumbo). This type was used in window displays both in movie theaters and stores in a town or city.  The window card had white space on the bottom for the theater name and show times.  Some window cards still have show time featured, which does not detract from value.  Some window cards have that area cut off, which does detract from value.  This type is no longer used.
• Lobby Cards 11 x 14 inches (standard) – 8 x 10 inches (mini) – 14 x 17 inches (jumbo).  This is one of the oldest forms of movie posters,  now it is used mostly in foreign markets.
• 11 x 14 inches used for reproductions.
• 11 x 17 inches used for reproductions.
• 24 x 36 inches used for reproductions.
• 30 x 40 inches this was used for special displays and it is similar to the original release One Sheet. It is no longer used for films released in the U.S.
• 40 x 60 inches this type was printed on card stock, first used in the 1930 and it is currently not in use.
• Bus shelter 43 x 62 inches.  This was printed on card stock and used in bus shelters.
• Two Sheet 46 x 64 inches. This type was often called a “Subway” because it was placed in subway stations.
• Three Sheet 41 x 81 inches, portrait format.  This type was once used for lobby displays and is rarely used now.
• Six Sheet  81 x 81 inches.  This was a small billboard used outside of a movie theatre. It can consist of four to six separate pieces.
• Twelve Sheet 9 x 12 inches.  This type was a like a billboard, it was issued by Paramount in the 1930’s, is no longer used and is very rare.
• Twenty Four Sheet 246 inches x 108, landscape format.  This is also called a Billboard.  It is 24 times the size of a One Sheet and is no longer used.

That’s it for U.S. movie poster sizes.  So, when you see the phrase U.S. One Sheet or Lobby Card used to describe movie posters, you won’t wonder what those words means. 

Source: www.moviegoods.com/all-about-posters.asp