When I recently went to the theater, I was actually shocked that a movie poster caught my attention as much as it did: Alien Romulus. The poster feels like a beautiful homage to the original Alien poster while still taking on a modern style in a very vibrant, eye-catching red. It's one of the few posters that really sticks in my mind with its simplicity compared to a lot of the same-y ensemble or actor focused ones
If you're interested, my channel is entirely dedicated to talking about movie posters! Mostly reacting to new ones (occasionally there are some gems), but I will have more videos talking about older posters too!
I saw the movie, and while it's a little wonky. The cinematography is GREAT. Like it does have some modern aspects to it, but there are moments where it;s like This is Alien.
I said to my younger brother that after alien Romulus is out of theaters I'll be trying to get an official poster and that's the first poster I've wanted since Sweeney Todd
Growing up I loved reading "A series of unfortunate events" and the covers were always fun to stare at and imagine what was gonna happen in the book before reading it.
I grew up with the UK editions which are mostly the same but a few books have different cover art. The 2004 film too I quite like the poster. It really displays Olaf chasing the children, how he looms over their lives.
Definitely. That’s why it’s so important to support actual artists these days! I touched on it a bit at the end of the video but didn’t mention A.I. specifically. I agree with you. It’s concerning how much they want us to accept it and I wouldn’t be shocked if we start seeing posters, covers, and more marketing using A.I. in the place of artists. Thanks for bringing it up here!
its already begun (albeit for shitty indie movies). i was scrolling on the... seven seas if you will, and saw the ugliest most generic ass poster of some lame ass horror movie and it was so obviously ai generated that i felt genuine anger
This is why I’m so grateful to Letterboxd for having a “Change Poster” feature. So many of my favorite films have some of the ugliest, most uninspired poster designs imaginable. I will say studios like NEON and A24 that specialize in producing independent cinema have been on a strong kick when it comes to poster design. Spencer, Pearl, Moonlight, Parasite, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Under the Silver Lake, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, and Anatomy of a Fall feature some of my favorite poster designs of all time. It’s mostly the big budget studio films that rely on boring corporate floating head posters to sell the stars of the movie rather than its content. It’s a shame really.
Likewise! Love the change poster feature. If you're interested, my channel is entirely dedicated to talking about movie posters! Mostly reacting to new ones (occasionally there are some gems), but I will have more videos talking about older posters too!
A solid game poster can be as impactful. Ive still had the same Super Smash Bros Brawl poster hanging in my room since I got the game in 2008. And my favorite character isnt even on it. Its that much of a great poster.
The thing I hate most about ensemble cast posters, is the names are almost never in the same order as the actors. The names are in importance/popularity order, but then the cast are in whatever arrangement is aesthetically pleasing. It just bothers me so much 😂
I am personally not bothered by this at all, but I think this being something that people notice these days thanks to “floating head” posters that essentially act as lists of actors faces. Since higher billed actors often have more important roles in films their faces will start from the center with most important to least important as you move outward. Actual billing is then put on top of the poster design with actual billing order. The end result is a poster that has two lists of the cast, one that is their names in billing order, and one that is their faces with the lead role in the center and supporting cast behind them. The order of billing has always been done completely separate from the design of the poster, and I’d assume if you look back at older posters, for example the original Star Wars trilogy, you would likely not be bothered by this as the posters themselves offer something other than just the actors’ faces, and the billing is clearly not a part of the design of the poster.
While it's not technically "official promotional art", I tend to be drawn to movies/shows/games because of fanart I see online. I constantly see incredible works made by fans that immediately make me interested in the piece of media (most of the time they're even better than the actual official promotional poster) It's how I've discovered so many new things that I likely never would have found on my own
I never saw the film in theaters, but the Prince of Egypt's theatrical poster makes me wish I experienced it on the big screen. It's so simple, yet so imaginative and emblematic of what the plot and themes will be about.
I really like the Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild posters and box art. While it has Link standing there holding a weapon, he is standing in front of the whole kingdom. The castle looks menacing, the towers look interesting, and the wide open sky gives me the feeling of something majestic. While I didn't pick up the game because of the cover, I still REALLY like it.
Yeah, that was probably the best opening to a game I’ve ever played. The way the music swells as you reach the edge of the cliff to overlook the castle in the far distance, you can almost see the entire game from just that view (Gerudo Desert is behind you). Hyrule Castle is the main focus, but then Death Mountain looming in the background and the mountains of Hebra and Lanayru to either side of it.
It's ironic that posters since the 2000s trended towards highlighting movie stars, when some could argue this was when the 'movie star' began to die... Maybe an element of grasping at straws
I don't go out of my way to watch movie trailers, like on TH-cam or wherever, but I go to the theater pretty often and definitely choose what I'm going to see next based on trailers that play in front of what I'm seeing. Thanks to that, I was one of the dozen people that actually saw _The Menu_ in a theater, since the trailer played ahead of _Trick 'r Treat_ when that got a theatrical run a couple years ago
The thought came to me when you asked the question "When was the last time you took a chance on the cover alone" I hope I quoted you correctly. My issue is, when i go to my film shop or book shop, Everything is put on its side. We only see the title or a splash of colour. We don't get to see the cover of any of these films, books or games unless they have paid for it or if they have recently won an award. A book grabbed my attention from across the room because it was facing out, when everything else was stacked just like my books at home. All the points you made were great, a good video and open discussion but I would take the chance if the display of these shops were open and inviting to all of it contents.
My favorite is Army of Darkness. Perfectly captures the unique and delightful tone of the film. There's so many good ones out there though. It's just as wonderful an art form as the scores, if you ask me! Good video btw. Enjoyed it quite a bit.
Hey great video. Part of me does wonder how much two things come into play with this. One being nostalgia, I would argue for a lot of people, seeing the poster as the front of the VHS and seeing them every time there is a visit to the video store is a strong and potent feeling. Even more so as the video store, I know, was my happy place. The other component is the "quality floats" thing, like when people think music used to be a lot better, but there's decades and decades of filter to strain out the forgettable and bolster the positive. And I think that plays out true with posters too, in that there are a LOT of mostly forgettable posters from every decade that don't even warrant a look in, but the awesome stuff stays on top and becomes the standard of the time instead of seen as the high points of a sea of mid and bad. I will also say that so far all of Jordan Peel's posters have been outstanding. Subbed.
One of my favorite movie posters is 1978s "Death on the Nile". It's an ensemble cast but it works because it's showing the suspects over an pyramid shape with an image of Tutankhamun who is holding a gun and knife
this was such a good video!! i loved how it just kept delving deeper and into new directions but still with the same throughline. now i can link this to my friends and start some real RANTS haha
Wonderful video, I've been fascinated with movie posters and saddened by the fact that it's kind of a dying art form for a while. This movie was a real treat, here's some of my favorite posters in no particular order: American Psycho, both the one with the knife and the close up of his face Midsommar The Witch Suzume Pretty much any Studio Ghibli film I'm not sure how much it counts but I really like the Adventure Time box sets art, each season has a different character on the cover and you can flip them open to reveal more of them Edit: forgot to mention it but Perfect Blue, that movie rules and the poster is gorgeous
I work at a bookstore and good covers are so hard to come by I literally run around showing coworkers when we get them The Other Mrs Wood by Lucy Barker & The Night House by Jo Nebsø are two that definetly stick out
the main Mission: Impossible posters are so dead, but honestly i LOVE the alternate cool red and black ones. I wish the main ones weren't so ass but at least we have those cool other ones, just a shame they aren't pushed more
Weirdly enough, the thing that's drawn me towards movies (and not movies from franchises that I'm already familiar with and wanted to see): are the scores. The majority of the movies I've randomly came across and wanted to hunt down to watch, as of the last couple years, were a result of me getting hooked on a specific composer, coming across a good soundtrack from them with some intriguing or sometimes downright awesome looking cover art, and that's that. Jerry Goldsmith has been an introduction to a quite a few movies for me as of recent. And on a slightly unrelated note: two of my favorite movie posters are Army of Darkness and Matinee.
one of the best recent posters I've seen is the poster for "The Zone of Interest." Brilliantly shows the world outside the house in complete blackness; thus, demonstrating the way the characters view the death camp right next to their home.
Personally my favorite posters are the Godzilla posters for the heisei Era and Millennium era legit they are works of art the Godzilla versus mechagodzilla poster just looks so cool
A good recent poster that's so so good is Alien Romulus imho And ironically I believe that while a lot of book covers all look the same, at the same time we've never had so many great covers like If We Were Villains, all the Wayward Children covers, A Darker Shade of Magic, Babel, the Cosmere books all have an old flair with a contemporary artistic view
i cheered out loud when you said goosebumps during the book covers section like YES. YES. i used to be fucking ENAMORED with goosebumps covers, specifically the older ones that had that solid colour border like oohh mama thats some good shit. my favourite was Stay Out Of The Basement (which is funny cus i grew up to find out i have something of a non-sexual hand fetish lmao)
I love the old TRON poster, and the TRON Legacy one that has *only* Sam and Quorra is also good since yeah it's a reference to the original but also doesn't have the clutter of some of the other posters that come up if you search.
I will say I really did like the Deadpool & Wolverine poster. Simple and clean. And of course the Beetlejuice Beetlejuice poster. Modern remix of the iconic original one
Great video! My favorite movie poster is for the movie Dracula Has Risen from the Grave which I never even watched but I think the design is just brilliant, the pink colored band-aid on the girls neck is a brilliant design
Ooof!!! Good call on this video, it absolutely spoke to the very core of my soul! I 100% agree with everything you mentioned, marketing Art for everything from movies to games to books have definitely been watered down to a level of utter sameness. Hell, when I was a kid, I wanted to grow up to be a movie poster artist like Drew Struzan so bad, that I literally spent months trying to nail his style down. Also, the excitement I used to get from teaser posters like that of Batman 1989, and games like Street Fighter and Megan Man is lost to me today when coming across the new stuff.
Just to answer your question of the last thing that I watched PURELY off the cover artwork: Hundred's of Beavers (2024). Ended up being one of the better choices I've made in movies lately, hilarious silent(ish) black/white slapstick comedy, if anyone still likes looney toons I'd say give it a shot!
The Blu-Ray cover for Bliss (2019) and the original teaser poster for The Rental (2020) are the only two times I’ve bought a movie (ticket) based solely off the promotional artwork!
cant belive you only have 25k! I loved this video and it really inspired me to try using more cover art as references for promotional materials of my stuff
Mine are A.I. Artificial Intelligence and The Prince of Egypt. Their posters feature human silhouettes, emphasizing that the movie is about someone's life or human nature. I also like the ones for Silence of the Lambs and Jurassic Park, which feature iconic animals. Also The Godfather (you've gotta love the fact that amidst the darkness and Corleone's foreboding stare, there's a cat just chilling on his lap). Edit: As for something more recent, del Toro's Pinocchio comes to mind, both versions. The close-up of Pinocchio's face in that orange light accurately depicts the warmth and lighting seen throughout the film. 🙂
I tend to look at posters that show up on the r/movies reddit if I don't recognize the title and there has been a growing number of excellent, artistic posters being made for smaller films that really makes me hopeful that this might be turning a corner
The Dark Crystal poster at 30:01 is my favourite. I even got the movie on VHS and I HAD to get the cover with the green border around it, it's so good.
As someone who just started learning digital design, this video was great for me. Especially since one of the first lectures showed how the original Star Wars poster uses the rule of thirds lol. So while my degree is more focused on animation, I am now very motivated to be part of a greater future of artistic marketing
I mean it seems like horror movies and bollywood (and other east Asian films) seem to have the best posters now. The poster for pearl is a really good throw back as well has the stark Alien: Romulus poster is really effective. Us, Nope, and get out all have great posters that get recontextualized thru the film itself. But man, Indian film posters run on some serious dream logic editing that just gives so much energy.
My favourite poster is Twister (1996), i love the dark forboding nature of the tornado captured on grainy film with the murky brown dust around it, the matte black background and especially the font, it's windswept, it's violent, it's angry, the one with the red text makes it feel dangerous. Whereas with the recent sequel, it's bland, it's grey, the people are looking the wrong way and the font feels tamer with its positioning, it needs that black background and dark atmosphere to feel forboding, it just doesn't respect the wind. I did like the use of the font in its marketing especially with the trailer giving it that brown dusty windy text, i just wish they used that brown murkiness in the poster, it just sold the danger of a tornado more to me than the poster we got. I also liked the teaser poster for dune (2021) with just the planet arrakis spliced with the sand dunes, that was cool, the official poster made me want to vomit.
The poster for 'Challengers' is a modern one (as in, within this year) that I think is pretty good. Gets the general point/vibe of the movie through without actually spoiling anything.
On the subject of cool book covers, Grady Hendrix published an excellent book, "Paperbacks From Hell," that's a fantastic retrospective on retro horror fiction and its beautiful cover art.
Its been a long time since I've watched such a chill video that gives me insight into a world I didn't really think much about before, but that I now want to interact with by buying a movie poster or two.
5:23 one of the funniest tidbits about the Forbidden Planet poster is how clickbait it is. The robot in the poster is really a passive character in the movie. He's the chillest dude, meanwhile the poster looks like he's the main villain.
Fantastic, loved every second. I'm about to go into my last year at university and I'm studying illustration. My dream is to create an illustration for a film poster one day so I hope I can get the chance in an over saturated trend dependant market
It’s so strange because some of the newer book covers, the ones i grew up with being a bit younger, are actually quite iconic in my eyes. The cover of dune or other remasters and new book covers are deeply ingrained in my mind. Not that older covers were not better, but just a perspective that the newer book covers are also surprisingly iconic.
Hey!! This video reached Brazil (I mean, my fy page haha) and I had so much fun watching it!! I really think you should also check out some brazilian movie posters as well cuz there’s also some really cool ones!! Another topic surrounding this idea of “posters” - would also be talking abt some cool album covers :) if someday you make a video abt it, I’d gladly watch it as well!
Where this still is the case today is boardgames. Many of them are incredibly beautiful. Great artwork. And many times I just bought one just based on the box.
One that has stuck with me was Transformers 2007. Not the one that shows boys and humans, the one with Optimus Primes left eye looming over the Earth, with the tagline "Their war. Our world." Love it.
17:09 Mason you’re kind of ignoring that those weren’t the only Jurassic World posters released. Each film’s initial poster matched the OG Trilogy’s minimal logo design. Jurassic World was chrome on black, Fallen Kingdom’s was broken stone on black & hints of volcanic ash, & Dominion’s changed it up with a single circular amber around the T. rex image. Fallen Kingdom in particular had many individual posters released that were excellent including one I mentioned: a full dinosaurs poster. Of course to your point I think its very odd that all the physical media for the Jurassic World movies gave them the “ugly” posters as the covers. Only Dominion’s I feel works. Even as the die hard Jurassic fan that I am (Fallen Kingdom is the best one Mason, dont @ me), I dislike that wider marketing uses these posters that I feel dont properly represent the movies.
4:44 awww never would've expected Way Down East! ❤ But the movie is one of my favourites and the poster is stunning, I always thought of getting one for my wall
Thank you for explaining the problem of sameness in media design. My favourite poster is Bob Peake's Rollerball (1976). Your examples were 'portrait'. In the UK our film posters are 'landscape' and for many years all promotional artwork was reconfigured in studio to fit our displays. Some of the best artwork was done in Britain. I have an original artwork by John Stockle, one of the British poster artists, for Young Doctors in Love (1982), which shows a photograph of an inflated surgical glove, overlaid with an acetate on which cartoon faces of the cast have been drawn on the fingers and the film's title in bright red to imitate lipstick. It's fun. Of the more recent posters, I think Under the Skin and Parasite were very good
“Whats your favorite movie poster?” I dunno dude I’m too young to remember the good ones (I was born in 2002) and it’s fucking depressing that I actually wouldn’t be able to think of one unless you showed me some to refresh my memory
Some more recent posters that I really liked were of Stranger Things season 4 the "X Billy Butcher." Each episode got it's own poster, and I loved the designs!!!
The Zone of Interest's poster kicked a**. The posters for Kinds of Kindness, Parasite, Poor Things, and Civil War were all solid, too. I.e., when I think of the movie, I can see the poster. And while I was one of the few who did not like Anatomy of a Fall, it's poster was fantastic.
I remember going to blockbuster every weekend when I was younger, and picking just any random movie that caught my interest by the cover alone. All the cover picked movies turned out to be memorable, exciting, or became one of my favorites. Now I sift through hours of streaming covers and nothing is as enticing.
The locked tomb books have great covers, it's just the titular character of each book standing there but they look so friggin good I want them as posters, especially Harrow the ninth! Artist name is Tommy Arnold.
Darkman, Taxi Driver, Back to the Future, Blow Out and The Insider are my favorites. As an honorable mention, there was a promotional poster for Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Pt 1 that really caught my eye. It was in my local theater before I even saw a trailer! It was a shot of the mountain range where the motorcycle jump takes place, with the words vertically down the middle. There are two versions of this: one with just the photo and the title, the other with a tiny man and motorcycle both floating towards the Earth. That somehow said it all IMHO.
As Above So Below, The Hallow, The VVitch, Krampus, The Love Witch, and Malignant are some of my top favorite posters from the last 10 years. All horror.
My favorite poster of all time is The Exorcist. The image is ominous and also summarizes the entire theme of the film with Father Merrin shrouded in darkness looking toward the light above him for reassurance.
The exorcist is obviously one of my favorites, and of course Jaws. Late Night with the Devil was a recent one that was pretty good, bit it was trying to depict the 70s so...lol
The Game of Thrones season 5 poster might be my favorite (I currently have it framed on my wall). It's just simple, but gives you this mysterious feeling with the impending doom from a dragon in the mist. I just find it to be beautiful.
Favourite posters: Pulp Fiction and Legend Modern poster: Lisa Frankenstein (particularly the one with her mouth dropped and the image of her love interest in her sunglasses)
This is a great video! I have some suggestions: Make a video (or series of videos) just celebrating your favorite movie posters and artists. I know your video essay here isn't comprehensive, but I think both music album covers and comic book covers are certainly part of this discussion as well, with each of those having a unique contribution and history regarding this topic. I'm a new subber here, and I'll be taking a deep dive with your library here. Wish you all the very best!
A little note-the next and supposedly last Mission:Impossible isn’t going to be Dead Reckoning part 2 now due to Dead Reckoning falling short at the box office. Just thought I’d throw that out there. Amazing video bro. Keep it up. Love seeing NakeyJakey mentioned!
the cars 3 poster in which mcqueen is mid crash. peak
It's almost similar to Iron Man 3 teaser poster which goes hard.
The best posters tell you everything without showing nothing ❤
Even better is "The best posters tell you everything without showing _Everything_ "
In my opinion it's the best posters tell you who the characters are and nothing more than that
When I recently went to the theater, I was actually shocked that a movie poster caught my attention as much as it did: Alien Romulus. The poster feels like a beautiful homage to the original Alien poster while still taking on a modern style in a very vibrant, eye-catching red. It's one of the few posters that really sticks in my mind with its simplicity compared to a lot of the same-y ensemble or actor focused ones
Yes! That’s exactly what I thought when he asked for a “modern poster”
If you're interested, my channel is entirely dedicated to talking about movie posters! Mostly reacting to new ones (occasionally there are some gems), but I will have more videos talking about older posters too!
@@TheMoviePosterFanClub I’ll definitely check that out
I saw the movie, and while it's a little wonky. The cinematography is GREAT. Like it does have some modern aspects to it, but there are moments where it;s like This is Alien.
I said to my younger brother that after alien Romulus is out of theaters I'll be trying to get an official poster and that's the first poster I've wanted since Sweeney Todd
Movie posters, like album covers, provided an outlet for so much inventive and memorable graphic design.
Growing up I loved reading "A series of unfortunate events" and the covers were always fun to stare at and imagine what was gonna happen in the book before reading it.
Ah I loved those covers! That art style is so memorable.
I grew up with the UK editions which are mostly the same but a few books have different cover art.
The 2004 film too I quite like the poster. It really displays Olaf chasing the children, how he looms over their lives.
I felt the same about goosebumps
Are you (like me) worried about the advent of using AI generation for future movie posters? I wouldn’t put it past movie studios nowadays…
Definitely. That’s why it’s so important to support actual artists these days! I touched on it a bit at the end of the video but didn’t mention A.I. specifically. I agree with you. It’s concerning how much they want us to accept it and I wouldn’t be shocked if we start seeing posters, covers, and more marketing using A.I. in the place of artists.
Thanks for bringing it up here!
its already begun (albeit for shitty indie movies). i was scrolling on the... seven seas if you will, and saw the ugliest most generic ass poster of some lame ass horror movie and it was so obviously ai generated that i felt genuine anger
That wouldn't really be a meaningful departure from the bland posters he talked about.
My fave poster has to be The Thing. It's so eerie and cool!
But my fav trend is FANS of the franchise making their version of the promo posters
70s japanese posters go so hard
This is why I’m so grateful to Letterboxd for having a “Change Poster” feature. So many of my favorite films have some of the ugliest, most uninspired poster designs imaginable. I will say studios like NEON and A24 that specialize in producing independent cinema have been on a strong kick when it comes to poster design. Spencer, Pearl, Moonlight, Parasite, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Under the Silver Lake, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, and Anatomy of a Fall feature some of my favorite poster designs of all time. It’s mostly the big budget studio films that rely on boring corporate floating head posters to sell the stars of the movie rather than its content. It’s a shame really.
Likewise! Love the change poster feature. If you're interested, my channel is entirely dedicated to talking about movie posters! Mostly reacting to new ones (occasionally there are some gems), but I will have more videos talking about older posters too!
I think Criterion has amongst the best covers ever.
I liked that you mentioned vid games and books. When popular book series change their covers every few years. They look so cool
A solid game poster can be as impactful. Ive still had the same Super Smash Bros Brawl poster hanging in my room since I got the game in 2008. And my favorite character isnt even on it. Its that much of a great poster.
@@JurassicLion2049 yeah and other covers like red dead 2, kingdom hearts, botw
@@JurassicLion2049FOR REAL, THE GAME COVER GOES CRAZY!!!!!
The thing I hate most about ensemble cast posters, is the names are almost never in the same order as the actors. The names are in importance/popularity order, but then the cast are in whatever arrangement is aesthetically pleasing. It just bothers me so much 😂
I am personally not bothered by this at all, but I think this being something that people notice these days thanks to “floating head” posters that essentially act as lists of actors faces. Since higher billed actors often have more important roles in films their faces will start from the center with most important to least important as you move outward. Actual billing is then put on top of the poster design with actual billing order. The end result is a poster that has two lists of the cast, one that is their names in billing order, and one that is their faces with the lead role in the center and supporting cast behind them.
The order of billing has always been done completely separate from the design of the poster, and I’d assume if you look back at older posters, for example the original Star Wars trilogy, you would likely not be bothered by this as the posters themselves offer something other than just the actors’ faces, and the billing is clearly not a part of the design of the poster.
One Missed Call, and Final Destination 3. Absolutely haunting posters. Shaun of the Dead was also a great one.
While it's not technically "official promotional art", I tend to be drawn to movies/shows/games because of fanart I see online. I constantly see incredible works made by fans that immediately make me interested in the piece of media (most of the time they're even better than the actual official promotional poster) It's how I've discovered so many new things that I likely never would have found on my own
Alien: Romulus, It, and La La Land gotta be the best recent movie posters I can think of off the top of my head.
I also liked those a lot. I’m also a fan of The Batman poster where it’s his dark silhouette in the red background
Which Romulus poster? I reviewed one of them on my poster review channel
@@TheMoviePosterFanClub the red one with the face grabber
What about the ones from A24 movies like; everything everywhere all at once, pearl, midsommar, the witch, florida project
I would argue Blade Runner 2049's poster hurt its ticket sales
I never saw the film in theaters, but the Prince of Egypt's theatrical poster makes me wish I experienced it on the big screen. It's so simple, yet so imaginative and emblematic of what the plot and themes will be about.
Ngl I feel like we're starting to step out of the floating heads poster. Deadpool 3, Trap, Alien and some more have done a fantastic job recently
I really like the Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild posters and box art. While it has Link standing there holding a weapon, he is standing in front of the whole kingdom. The castle looks menacing, the towers look interesting, and the wide open sky gives me the feeling of something majestic. While I didn't pick up the game because of the cover, I still REALLY like it.
Yeah, that was probably the best opening to a game I’ve ever played. The way the music swells as you reach the edge of the cliff to overlook the castle in the far distance, you can almost see the entire game from just that view (Gerudo Desert is behind you). Hyrule Castle is the main focus, but then Death Mountain looming in the background and the mountains of Hebra and Lanayru to either side of it.
And then the European version had to fuck it up by making Link look at the viewer.
It's ironic that posters since the 2000s trended towards highlighting movie stars, when some could argue this was when the 'movie star' began to die... Maybe an element of grasping at straws
I don't go out of my way to watch movie trailers, like on TH-cam or wherever, but I go to the theater pretty often and definitely choose what I'm going to see next based on trailers that play in front of what I'm seeing.
Thanks to that, I was one of the dozen people that actually saw _The Menu_ in a theater, since the trailer played ahead of _Trick 'r Treat_ when that got a theatrical run a couple years ago
The thought came to me when you asked the question "When was the last time you took a chance on the cover alone" I hope I quoted you correctly. My issue is, when i go to my film shop or book shop, Everything is put on its side. We only see the title or a splash of colour. We don't get to see the cover of any of these films, books or games unless they have paid for it or if they have recently won an award. A book grabbed my attention from across the room because it was facing out, when everything else was stacked just like my books at home.
All the points you made were great, a good video and open discussion but I would take the chance if the display of these shops were open and inviting to all of it contents.
My favorite is Army of Darkness. Perfectly captures the unique and delightful tone of the film. There's so many good ones out there though. It's just as wonderful an art form as the scores, if you ask me!
Good video btw. Enjoyed it quite a bit.
Hey great video. Part of me does wonder how much two things come into play with this. One being nostalgia, I would argue for a lot of people, seeing the poster as the front of the VHS and seeing them every time there is a visit to the video store is a strong and potent feeling. Even more so as the video store, I know, was my happy place.
The other component is the "quality floats" thing, like when people think music used to be a lot better, but there's decades and decades of filter to strain out the forgettable and bolster the positive. And I think that plays out true with posters too, in that there are a LOT of mostly forgettable posters from every decade that don't even warrant a look in, but the awesome stuff stays on top and becomes the standard of the time instead of seen as the high points of a sea of mid and bad.
I will also say that so far all of Jordan Peel's posters have been outstanding.
Subbed.
One of my favorite movie posters is 1978s "Death on the Nile". It's an ensemble cast but it works because it's showing the suspects over an pyramid shape with an image of Tutankhamun who is holding a gun and knife
I saw that in a theater when it came out. I just looked at the poster and scored 100 percent naming the cast faces.
this was such a good video!! i loved how it just kept delving deeper and into new directions but still with the same throughline. now i can link this to my friends and start some real RANTS haha
my favorite recent film poster is The Shape of Water, its so beautiful and haunting.
Seeing a ton of random posters in here that make me want to watch movies that I've never even heard of. 'Nuff said.
Wonderful video, I've been fascinated with movie posters and saddened by the fact that it's kind of a dying art form for a while. This movie was a real treat, here's some of my favorite posters in no particular order:
American Psycho, both the one with the knife and the close up of his face
Midsommar
The Witch
Suzume
Pretty much any Studio Ghibli film
I'm not sure how much it counts but I really like the Adventure Time box sets art, each season has a different character on the cover and you can flip them open to reveal more of them
Edit: forgot to mention it but Perfect Blue, that movie rules and the poster is gorgeous
I was recommended this by the algorithm and I have to say you put on a very informed and thoughtful presentation.
I work at a bookstore and good covers are so hard to come by I literally run around showing coworkers when we get them
The Other Mrs Wood by Lucy Barker & The Night House by Jo Nebsø are two that definetly stick out
I looked up Mrs. Wood to see for myself, and it's telling that although 3 different covers came up, I knew exactly which one you meant.
the main Mission: Impossible posters are so dead, but honestly i LOVE the alternate cool red and black ones. I wish the main ones weren't so ass but at least we have those cool other ones, just a shame they aren't pushed more
I got a red and black Fallout poster from my movie theater. It’s framed and on my wall. It’s kinda minimalist but still cool
Weirdly enough, the thing that's drawn me towards movies (and not movies from franchises that I'm already familiar with and wanted to see): are the scores. The majority of the movies I've randomly came across and wanted to hunt down to watch, as of the last couple years, were a result of me getting hooked on a specific composer, coming across a good soundtrack from them with some intriguing or sometimes downright awesome looking cover art, and that's that. Jerry Goldsmith has been an introduction to a quite a few movies for me as of recent.
And on a slightly unrelated note: two of my favorite movie posters are Army of Darkness and Matinee.
The Once Upon A Time in Hollywood poster is great
one of the best recent posters I've seen is the poster for "The Zone of Interest." Brilliantly shows the world outside the house in complete blackness; thus, demonstrating the way the characters view the death camp right next to their home.
First of your videos that I've seen and it's an instant subscribe from me :3 Love your Sonic hat too!
Personally my favorite posters are the Godzilla posters for the heisei Era and Millennium era legit they are works of art the Godzilla versus mechagodzilla poster just looks so cool
A good recent poster that's so so good is Alien Romulus imho
And ironically I believe that while a lot of book covers all look the same, at the same time we've never had so many great covers like If We Were Villains, all the Wayward Children covers, A Darker Shade of Magic, Babel, the Cosmere books all have an old flair with a contemporary artistic view
i cheered out loud when you said goosebumps during the book covers section like YES. YES. i used to be fucking ENAMORED with goosebumps covers, specifically the older ones that had that solid colour border like oohh mama thats some good shit. my favourite was Stay Out Of The Basement (which is funny cus i grew up to find out i have something of a non-sexual hand fetish lmao)
4:41 up until around 2008, in Thailand artists painted giant versions of the posters for the billboards outside. It's a lost art. I kind of liked it.
I think there are still people that make great posters because imax posters are almost always perfect imo.
I love the old TRON poster, and the TRON Legacy one that has *only* Sam and Quorra is also good since yeah it's a reference to the original but also doesn't have the clutter of some of the other posters that come up if you search.
Original Evil Dead, My Darling Clementine and Rocketeer are brilliant
I will say I really did like the Deadpool & Wolverine poster. Simple and clean. And of course the Beetlejuice Beetlejuice poster. Modern remix of the iconic original one
Great video! My favorite movie poster is for the movie Dracula Has Risen from the Grave which I never even watched but I think the design is just brilliant, the pink colored band-aid on the girls neck is a brilliant design
Whoa, hadn't seen that one before, it's great! I review posters on my channel haha
Ooof!!! Good call on this video, it absolutely spoke to the very core of my soul! I 100% agree with everything you mentioned, marketing Art for everything from movies to games to books have definitely been watered down to a level of utter sameness. Hell, when I was a kid, I wanted to grow up to be a movie poster artist like Drew Struzan so bad, that I literally spent months trying to nail his style down. Also, the excitement I used to get from teaser posters like that of Batman 1989, and games like Street Fighter and Megan Man is lost to me today when coming across the new stuff.
Just to answer your question of the last thing that I watched PURELY off the cover artwork: Hundred's of Beavers (2024). Ended up being one of the better choices I've made in movies lately, hilarious silent(ish) black/white slapstick comedy, if anyone still likes looney toons I'd say give it a shot!
The Blu-Ray cover for Bliss (2019) and the original teaser poster for The Rental (2020) are the only two times I’ve bought a movie (ticket) based solely off the promotional artwork!
I good poster should be appealing not only to the ones who have yet to see the thing it is for, but also for the ones who have.
Hold still I’m trying to read your hat. 😂
cant belive you only have 25k! I loved this video and it really inspired me to try using more cover art as references for promotional materials of my stuff
Mine are A.I. Artificial Intelligence and The Prince of Egypt. Their posters feature human silhouettes, emphasizing that the movie is about someone's life or human nature. I also like the ones for Silence of the Lambs and Jurassic Park, which feature iconic animals. Also The Godfather (you've gotta love the fact that amidst the darkness and Corleone's foreboding stare, there's a cat just chilling on his lap).
Edit: As for something more recent, del Toro's Pinocchio comes to mind, both versions. The close-up of Pinocchio's face in that orange light accurately depicts the warmth and lighting seen throughout the film. 🙂
Hundreds of Beavers is the best movie poster I can think of that came out in 2022.
Horror movies have been killing it lately in the poster game:
Longlegs
The First Omen
The Substance
I tend to look at posters that show up on the r/movies reddit if I don't recognize the title and there has been a growing number of excellent, artistic posters being made for smaller films that really makes me hopeful that this might be turning a corner
The Dark Crystal poster at 30:01 is my favourite. I even got the movie on VHS and I HAD to get the cover with the green border around it, it's so good.
As someone who just started learning digital design, this video was great for me. Especially since one of the first lectures showed how the original Star Wars poster uses the rule of thirds lol. So while my degree is more focused on animation, I am now very motivated to be part of a greater future of artistic marketing
I'd say Oppenheimer's posters are some of the best in recent years.
Great video! The stone lithographic experience of looking at an early cinema poster (pre ww2) is unlike anything else
I mean it seems like horror movies and bollywood (and other east Asian films) seem to have the best posters now. The poster for pearl is a really good throw back as well has the stark Alien: Romulus poster is really effective. Us, Nope, and get out all have great posters that get recontextualized thru the film itself. But man, Indian film posters run on some serious dream logic editing that just gives so much energy.
My favourite poster is Twister (1996), i love the dark forboding nature of the tornado captured on grainy film with the murky brown dust around it, the matte black background and especially the font, it's windswept, it's violent, it's angry, the one with the red text makes it feel dangerous. Whereas with the recent sequel, it's bland, it's grey, the people are looking the wrong way and the font feels tamer with its positioning, it needs that black background and dark atmosphere to feel forboding, it just doesn't respect the wind. I did like the use of the font in its marketing especially with the trailer giving it that brown dusty windy text, i just wish they used that brown murkiness in the poster, it just sold the danger of a tornado more to me than the poster we got. I also liked the teaser poster for dune (2021) with just the planet arrakis spliced with the sand dunes, that was cool, the official poster made me want to vomit.
I honestly like a lot of international posters as they don't care about the actors as much.
The poster for 'Challengers' is a modern one (as in, within this year) that I think is pretty good. Gets the general point/vibe of the movie through without actually spoiling anything.
My favorite poster for the 1972 movie Deliverance. The rifle sticking out of the lake was a very haunting image.
On the subject of cool book covers, Grady Hendrix published an excellent book, "Paperbacks From Hell," that's a fantastic retrospective on retro horror fiction and its beautiful cover art.
The ‘The Batman’ posters are goated
Its been a long time since I've watched such a chill video that gives me insight into a world I didn't really think much about before, but that I now want to interact with by buying a movie poster or two.
5:23 one of the funniest tidbits about the Forbidden Planet poster is how clickbait it is. The robot in the poster is really a passive character in the movie. He's the chillest dude, meanwhile the poster looks like he's the main villain.
Fantastic, loved every second. I'm about to go into my last year at university and I'm studying illustration. My dream is to create an illustration for a film poster one day so I hope I can get the chance in an over saturated trend dependant market
As an alternative movie poster artist, this video is a blessing! Thank you for that!
It’s so strange because some of the newer book covers, the ones i grew up with being a bit younger, are actually quite iconic in my eyes. The cover of dune or other remasters and new book covers are deeply ingrained in my mind. Not that older covers were not better, but just a perspective that the newer book covers are also surprisingly iconic.
My favorite recent movie poster is the pencil etching style poster for Shape Of Water. It's just beautiful
Hey!! This video reached Brazil (I mean, my fy page haha) and I had so much fun watching it!! I really think you should also check out some brazilian movie posters as well cuz there’s also some really cool ones!!
Another topic surrounding this idea of “posters” - would also be talking abt some cool album covers :) if someday you make a video abt it, I’d gladly watch it as well!
King Kong 76, Frogs, Scanners and Jaws 2 are my favorite movie posters. All four movies were not necessarily very good but I love those posters.
Where this still is the case today is boardgames. Many of them are incredibly beautiful. Great artwork. And many times I just bought one just based on the box.
One that has stuck with me was Transformers 2007. Not the one that shows boys and humans, the one with Optimus Primes left eye looming over the Earth, with the tagline "Their war. Our world." Love it.
17:09 Mason you’re kind of ignoring that those weren’t the only Jurassic World posters released. Each film’s initial poster matched the OG Trilogy’s minimal logo design. Jurassic World was chrome on black, Fallen Kingdom’s was broken stone on black & hints of volcanic ash, & Dominion’s changed it up with a single circular amber around the T. rex image. Fallen Kingdom in particular had many individual posters released that were excellent including one I mentioned: a full dinosaurs poster. Of course to your point I think its very odd that all the physical media for the Jurassic World movies gave them the “ugly” posters as the covers. Only Dominion’s I feel works. Even as the die hard Jurassic fan that I am (Fallen Kingdom is the best one Mason, dont @ me), I dislike that wider marketing uses these posters that I feel dont properly represent the movies.
This video is so great! Wonderful work fellow Constant Reader. 🎈
4:44 awww never would've expected Way Down East! ❤ But the movie is one of my favourites and the poster is stunning, I always thought of getting one for my wall
Great film. My favorite Griffith.
Thank you for explaining the problem of sameness in media design. My favourite poster is Bob Peake's Rollerball (1976). Your examples were 'portrait'. In the UK our film posters are 'landscape' and for many years all promotional artwork was reconfigured in studio to fit our displays. Some of the best artwork was done in Britain. I have an original artwork by John Stockle, one of the British poster artists, for Young Doctors in Love (1982), which shows a photograph of an inflated surgical glove, overlaid with an acetate on which cartoon faces of the cast have been drawn on the fingers and the film's title in bright red to imitate lipstick. It's fun. Of the more recent posters, I think Under the Skin and Parasite were very good
One of the best posters ever is Bulworth (1998) very unique style and design
“Whats your favorite movie poster?”
I dunno dude I’m too young to remember the good ones (I was born in 2002) and it’s fucking depressing that I actually wouldn’t be able to think of one unless you showed me some to refresh my memory
The French poster for 'Harakiri' (1962) has to be my favourite. Just a greatly stylised version of one of the most iconic shots in the film.
Some more recent posters that I really liked were of Stranger Things season 4 the "X Billy Butcher." Each episode got it's own poster, and I loved the designs!!!
Late night with the devil is one of the movies that sold me on the poster
As far as very recent Posters go, my favorite was 'The First Omen'. Huge throwback to the original, while still being its' own thing.
The Zone of Interest's poster kicked a**. The posters for Kinds of Kindness, Parasite, Poor Things, and Civil War were all solid, too. I.e., when I think of the movie, I can see the poster. And while I was one of the few who did not like Anatomy of a Fall, it's poster was fantastic.
I remember going to blockbuster every weekend when I was younger, and picking just any random movie that caught my interest by the cover alone. All the cover picked movies turned out to be memorable, exciting, or became one of my favorites. Now I sift through hours of streaming covers and nothing is as enticing.
The locked tomb books have great covers, it's just the titular character of each book standing there but they look so friggin good I want them as posters, especially Harrow the ninth! Artist name is Tommy Arnold.
Darkman, Taxi Driver, Back to the Future, Blow Out and The Insider are my favorites. As an honorable mention, there was a promotional poster for Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Pt 1 that really caught my eye. It was in my local theater before I even saw a trailer! It was a shot of the mountain range where the motorcycle jump takes place, with the words vertically down the middle. There are two versions of this: one with just the photo and the title, the other with a tiny man and motorcycle both floating towards the Earth. That somehow said it all IMHO.
I would actually love to hear you go on and on about it. Book covers and posters are fascinating to me. I used to draw my own as a kid.
As Above So Below, The Hallow, The VVitch, Krampus, The Love Witch, and Malignant are some of my top favorite posters from the last 10 years. All horror.
Pure vibes argument
From the past you remember the goodstuff and forget the bad examples
Have you guys seen the alternate marvel movie posters (ESPECIALLY Spiderman) that shit hurts when you see what they actually put out
My favorite poster of all time is The Exorcist. The image is ominous and also summarizes the entire theme of the film with Father Merrin shrouded in darkness looking toward the light above him for reassurance.
The exorcist is obviously one of my favorites, and of course Jaws. Late Night with the Devil was a recent one that was pretty good, bit it was trying to depict the 70s so...lol
The Game of Thrones season 5 poster might be my favorite (I currently have it framed on my wall). It's just simple, but gives you this mysterious feeling with the impending doom from a dragon in the mist. I just find it to be beautiful.
fantastic video. more like this please!
Favourite posters: Pulp Fiction and Legend
Modern poster: Lisa Frankenstein (particularly the one with her mouth dropped and the image of her love interest in her sunglasses)
This is a great video!
I have some suggestions:
Make a video (or series of videos) just celebrating your favorite movie posters and artists.
I know your video essay here isn't comprehensive, but I think both music album covers and comic book covers are certainly part of this discussion as well, with each of those having a unique contribution and history regarding this topic.
I'm a new subber here, and I'll be taking a deep dive with your library here. Wish you all the very best!
A little note-the next and supposedly last Mission:Impossible isn’t going to be Dead Reckoning part 2 now due to Dead Reckoning falling short at the box office. Just thought I’d throw that out there. Amazing video bro. Keep it up. Love seeing NakeyJakey mentioned!