In recent years the movie poster has travelled far beyond its street level attention-grabbing origins. Yet, the modern Orange/Teal action shots or Photoshop Face Mountains are perfunctory adornments to a movie’s marketing onslaught, lacking the artistry and invention of what has come before. But not all movie posters are created equally.
An iconic image, such as a shark rising to meet (and eat, let’s be clear) a swimmer above it instantly brings Spielberg’s Jaws to mind. Likewise a simple glance at the posters for Vertigo, The Man with the Golden Arm or Anatomy of a Murder tell us it is the work of Saul Bass. These posters show the power of the art and the artist. Modern masters such as Drew Struzan and Olly Moss have wildly varied styles, but both have the same aim – to get you excited about watching the film. They are works of art in their own right.
In this spirit Prop Store have collected hundreds of original film posters from across the world and the decades and are holding a Cinema Poster Live Auction on the 8th and 9th of December, 2021. This is your chance to own movie history; to find and frame your favourite poster.
As with all of their auctions, Prop Store have put great care and love into gathering and selecting the lots up for auction next week. Their catalogue, available to view here along with all the details you need to get in on the auction yourself, showcases so many beautiful original cinema posters, and we’ve picked our favourites from the hundreds on offer.
If you want a closer look, check this out.
As you browse the catalogue you’ll notice that, while there are many original movie posters on offer, there are a significant number of alternative posters going under the virtual hammer.
Artists such as Tyler Stout, Olly Moss and Matt Ferguson are well known to the poster collection community and it’s wonderful to see some of them so well represented here. It’s a testament to the massive appeal of the movie poster as an art form that the demand for high quality original posters has grown to gigantic proptions across the world, as is the emergence of an entire ‘alternative poster’ industry in full flow.
A great example is this, from my favourite film of all time – Brazil.
This is an image I remember very well over the years, it speaks to the themes of the film perfectly and is aesthetically powerful as well as graceful. Then, twenty-seven years later, cames this…
Martin Ansin’s 2012 Mondo print is as evocative as the long lost original and yet its beautiful chaos is as far removed from the 1985 poster as can be. And this is just the beginning.
Below we have selected out favourite alternative movie posters, all of which you could own (!) in the auction. As most of the films represented here have both the more well known variants also on offer, we have included them here as well – which is your favourite?
Casablanca
This gorgeous 1947 Belgian affiche is a true original, with poster perfect quality composition and colour. The film is a timeless classic and this poster is just as enduring.
Its alternative comes from this 2013 limited edition print by Laurent Durieux, an artist whose beautiful work appears elsewhere in the catalogue. Taking a very different approach in its subject matter, this print perfectly summons the romance, mystery and menace of the film.
The Evil Dead
If you were a video store regular back in the ’80s you’ll recognise this vibrant, ghastly tribute to Sam Raimi’s 1981 cult classic. This is the original Video Cover artwork by Graham Humphreys, and is expected to fetch a pretty penny.
As is this beauty from Negative Space master Olly Moss, a 2010 Mondo Poster which is sure to stir as much attention when it goes to auction as it did when it was originally released.
Joker
This excellent artistically-distressed poster for Todd Phillips’ Joker is all the more rare as there were printing issues with the original run of Juan Carlos Ruiz Burgos’ private commission.
Two variants of this stylish alternative poster for Joker are making their way to Prop Store’s auction in December. This is a Thai One-Sheet ‘Playing Card’ design, perfectly capturing the duality of Joaquin Phoenix’s character in the film. The two variants are almost identical – one has a mispelling of the word ‘Experience’ and therefore is set to go for even more money. Worth it.
My Neighbor Totoro
One of the most beloved films from the equally beloved Studio Ghibli, these are two 2018 Chinese One-Sheet posters for the 1993 film. The first takes one of the most iconic moments from the film and renders it perfectly.
And then we have this beauty from Huang Hai, a prolific and much-loved Chinese poster artist who recently worked with Lucasfilm on a design for Star Wars. Comparing two such different images from the same film goes to show how these talented artists can take their inspiration to wildly varied places.
Star Wars
As you can well imagine, the Star Wars films are very well covered in Prop Store’s auction, with all kinds of original posters from around the world and other similar promotional material making it to the catalogue. This rare lot features the original Tom Jung artwork, so redolent of the overwhelming triumph with which George Lucas’s film was greeted, along with droid additions from Nick Cardy. It’s iconic, and could be yours.
And while there are dozens of other Star Wars posters on offer, there are few lots that will attract as much attention as this complete set of Tyler Stout 2010 Mondo originals. When they were initially put up for sale they sold out immediately, and it’s incredible hard to find a set of all three posters in this gold variant design.
And, as we’ve said, this is just the beginning. You’ve yet to see the Labyrinth artworks, the Terminator images, an original Drew Struzan artwork for The Thing, and so, so much more.
Everything you need to enter the auction on the 8th and 9th of December, the full colour catalogue of every single lot, and so much more is ready and waiting for you right here at PropStore.com.
