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.
We came very close to declaring there was no “best” Movie Poster of the Year for 2007. Our annual pick for the best one-sheet for the year was coming up blank — there seem to be few choices for great movie posters. Looking at key art led to the same conclusion as looking at the movies themselves from the past 12 months: 2007 was not a great year for movies.
This past year, many marveled at the blockbuster eve candy of those sweaty 300 Spartans. Michael Bay’s Transformers was labeled a success mostly because the film was not as bad as many expected it to be. Many people searched eBay for a Spider-Man 3 lenticular 3D poster, which was as hard to find as a good review for the movie itself. Animation continued to be a dominant box office staple — three of the top ten grossing films of the year were Shrek the Third, Ratatouille, and The Simpsons Movie.
Vintage advertising showed its influence with the dime-store pulp of the Black Snake Moan poster. Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez wanted you to know how much they love the 1970s exploitation double-bills with the Grindhouse poster campaign. Were they trying to recreate the haphazard aspect of 70s B-movie advertising by creating a Planet Terror poster with Cherry Darling’s gun replacing the wrong leg?
Speaking of vintage, we liked the smokey distressed look of the 3:10 to Yuma movie poster, but is the sweeping (and blurry) duster jacket pose too Bob Fosse?
And speaking of blurry, some singled out the Michael Clayton movie poster as a good movie poster, but the blurred image of George Clooney with large typography seemed to fall into what some film ad creative directors call “book cover” design.
Artist Drew Struzan got to finish his own rejected poster design illustration from 25 years ago for the 2007 (limited theatrical, followed by DVD) release of Blade Runner: The Final Cut. The new Blade Runner DVD release features interviews with Blade Runner poster illustrators John Alvin along with Drew Struzan — a rare opportunity to see and hear film poster illustrators speak about their work. Alvin has some interesting comments about one-sheet design in the DVD’s Promoting Dystopia: Rendering the Poster Art documentary interview.
Topping many film critics best-of lists, Juno was labeled as “this year’s Little Miss Sunshine”. The Juno movie poster took that label literally by following the Little Miss Sunshine one-sheet example of “branding” itself via a strong color element (orange stripes in this case).
Was there a trend for 2007 movie posters? Our vote would be what we will call Big Sky Country, especially when looking at indie film posters. Lots and lots of big fields and big skies. All those vistas are not really a new trend, but there seemed to be fewer big heads floating in those skies lately.
Which brings us to our pick for the top movie poster of the year — The Savages movie poster illustrated by comic book artist Chris Ware. The movie tells the story of the dysfunctional relationship of a brother (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and sister (Laura Linney) dealing with their elderly father. What is interesting about the poster is all the things generally considered no-nos used in the one-sheet that don’t seem to take away from Ware’s illustration. Blue type against a blue background? Check. Overused Bank Gothic typeface set too small for copylines? Check. Rounded corners à la web design conventions influencing print design? Check. Reminiscent of another comic book artist illustrated movie poster featuring Philip Seymour Hoffman — the Happiness movie poster by artist Daniel Clowes? Check. Overbearing title treatment? Check. Inconsistent type justification (using centered, left, and right justified text)? Check. And failing to pass the gold standard test in film advertising ad critique smack-downs: Would your mother understand it? Check.
What we do like about the Chris Ware movie poster illustration for The Savages is that it is different than most key art campaigns (mainstream, indie, or otherwise) — it evokes a real feeling and direction about the characters. The trademark Chris Ware style of detached “coldness” is (literally) on display in The Savages one-sheet. Ware was an interesting choice to illustrate The Savages movie poster, since a common observation about his work is that his cartooning isn’t as strong as his writing, or at the very least, his artwork is overrated. It would be easy to criticize this top movie poster choice as yet another fan-boy sucking at the Chris Ware teet, but anything involving an alternative “comix” inspired illustration in a film advertising movie poster campaign deserves support.
The Hollywood Reporter’s 36th Annual Key Art Awards were announced at the Beverly Hilton on June 15th. The ceremony, hosted by comedian Rob Corddry, gave out awards covering a wide range of film advertising categories covering audio/video, print, and digital mediums. The ceremony included a few new categories and awards, including “Best of Show” awards chosen by the audience text messaging votes made during the evening. The night also saw the first “Visionary Award” given to director Robert Rodriguez, for being “a filmmaker who inspires movie marketers to create work at an even higher level.”
Another highlight was the RottenTomatoes.com “Tomato Topper Award” given to the film Step Up. The award is given to a film that received negative reviews but generated positive box-office returns, highlighting the role of film marketing translating to a successful movie release.
2007 Key Art movie poster winners:
ACTION-ADVENTURE POSTER
ANIMATION POSTER
COMEDY POSTER
DRAMA POSTER
HORROR POSTER
TEASER POSTER
INTERNATIONAL POSTER
To read the complete list of 2007 Key Art Award winners visit The Hollywood Reporter.
The Hollywood Reporter announced the nominees for The 36th Annual Key Art Awards. This year there are 34 award categories, covering film posters, movie trailers, packaging, outdoor advertising, theatrical standees, print ads, home entertainment and more. New film advertising categories were added for horror, animation and documentary movie posters, along with the (long overdue) web site design category.
“We retooled the awards this year to better reflect what movies are in theaters and where people are watching their advertising,” said Bob Israel, chairman of the Key Art Awards advisory board and executive producer of the show. “And we’re keeping an eye on the growing role of nontraditional media and how it’s being used for marketing.”
For the second year in a row, film studio Lionsgate leads the field among Key Art Awards nominees, which just goes to show you that we are not the only ones who devote too much attention to the studio’s marketing efforts. The most popular film nominees are Little Miss Sunshine, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, and Borat, with each scoring seven nominations. (It’s good to see our own choice for the movie poster of the year earned a Key Art Award nomination in the Drama posters category.)
The Hollywood Report’s Key Art Awards ceremony will be held June 15 at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles, with actor-comedian Rob Corddry as host.
The 2007 Key Art Awards movie poster nominees:
ACTION-ADVENTURE POSTERS
Superman Returns
Poseidon
Apocalypto
V for Vendetta
ANIMATION POSTERS
A Scanner Darkly
Renaissance
Ice Age: The Meltdown
Monster House
Cars
COMEDY POSTERS
Running With Scissors
Borat
Thank You for Smoking
Nacho Libre
Little Miss Sunshine
DRAMA POSTERS
Clean
Hard Candy
Little Children
Pan’s Labyrinth
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
HORROR POSTERS
Descent
Saw III
The Hills Have Eyes
Pulse
Saw III
TEASER POSTERS
Hostel
Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Family Reunion
Crank
Borat
V for Vendetta
INTERNATIONAL POSTERS
The Black Dahlia
Borat: Teaser
Borat: Teaser
The Prestige
Paris je t’aime
Have a favorite in the movie poster categories? Share your predictions for the winners in our comments section. To see the complete list of 2007 Key Art Award nominees visit The Hollywood Reporter.
