Posterwire.com is a movie poster weblog. From images of the latest Hollywood one-sheets to vintage movie posters, this film poster weblog hopes to offer a bit of insight into film key art.
Famed movie poster illustrator Drew Struzan returns to the warm embrace of his long-time client Lucasfilm with the release of the new Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull teaser poster. Struzan last illustrated the Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith movie poster for Lucas, and this marks his return to illustrating many of the one-sheets in the Indiana Jones series. (Although the first and perhaps best Indiana Jones movie poster illustration credit goes to artist Richard Amsel.)
The poster feels like a visual sequel to the previous Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom teaser poster, with a similar theme of Dr. Jones casting an impressive figure in a backlit entrance promising more things to come. There seems to be some debate about whether this piece of key art depiction of Indiana Jones accurately reflects actor Harrison Ford’s age, but looking at Crystal Skull promo photos it is hard to say how much “wear and tear” the archeologist will be showing on the big screen.
One thing we did notice is that the new Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull movie poster is using a different Indiana Jones logo than the previously released official Crystal Skull logo. Rather than an exact recreation of the original “Indiana Jones” logotype, this new teaser poster version of the logo differs significantly — using different letterforms, sizing, and kerning overlaps. Does this revised logo represent more unnecessary George Lucas title tinkering? Have they not settled on the logo for the Indiana Jones brand?
Struzan did not make the mentioned previous Indy-teaser for Temple of Doom. It would be an insult to the man to claim otherwise.
Comment posted by Niclas Schuler on 12/15/07 7:49 AM.Thanks for catching that error. Struzan did the domestic Temple of Doom poster, not the teaser. The aforementioned Temple of Doom teaser poster was illustrated by Bruce Wolf.
Comment posted by admin on 12/15/07 11:37 AM.Drew Struzan is a talented man, but there’s something about this teaser art I just don’t like.
Maybe it’s a bit bland? Maybe it doesn’t really say anything much about the film. The change in logotype is immediately noticeable, and not very welcome. Familiarity should be key with the Indy franchise.
On the plus side (at least for Harrison), Indy looks quite fit for 65 :)
Comment posted by Mark on 12/21/07 5:36 AM.Wow. I’m an incredible Indy fan, and it’s amazing how different Indy looks in this poster (and also in the promo photos). The Indy in the poster looks like Harrison Ford’s stunt double, actually heh. Old age (and possibly augmentative surgery) comes to us all, I suppose.
I do agree on the similarity with the Temple of Doom teaser poster, I immediately saw it as well.
Comment posted by deafscribbler on 01/3/08 10:36 PM.For those collectors out there, the U.S. (domestic) advance one-sheet for the latest Indy Jones film states “May 22″ at the bottom. The International version, while featuring the same artwork, states “2008″. A lot of dealers don’t advertise that, nor do the majority of eBay sellers who usually don’t understand the original movie poster industry and misrepresent posters all the time. From what I have heard, there are four different styles expected to be released for the upcoming Indiana Jones film, with the second style to coincide with the first trailer (which I personally felt should have been released over the Christmas holiday to get the buzz out there to those who didn’t even know another film was coming).
Jon
Comment posted by Jon on 01/11/08 11:12 PM.Emerald City Movie Posters
Strange that they changed the INDIANA JONES logo for this poster.
Comment posted by chris on 02/5/08 2:13 PM.[…] The McDaniel tribute makes for an interesting read — it was nice to see comparisons between Amsel and American artist J.C. Leyendecker. Although he worked in the same mediums as other illustrators of his time (watercolor, acrylic, airbrush, and color pencil), the “crisp” detailed and flat lighting style Amsel often employed is something that alluded many artists. To see a great example of this type of the detail, look no further than Harrison Ford’s face right down to the whiskers in the domestic Raiders of the Lost Ark one-sheet. Amsel’s Raiders work is an interesting contrast to the dynamic lighting style of Drew Struzan’s recent Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull poster. […]
Pingback posted by Richard Amsel « Posterwire.com « the movie poster weblog on 02/15/08 12:08 PM.Looks like Struzan drew not Indy, but his stand-in - or Mr. Ford’s alter ego, the Carpenter?
Comment posted by Me on 06/22/08 12:38 PM.Forth & hopefully last installment…