15 Movie Poster Trends That Really Need To Die
Why do all superheroes look up at the sky?
Sometimes a movie poster might be as important as the trailer when it comes to promoting a film;
It's what draws our attention and could make or break our inspiration to see it. Even if you haven't seen the trailer or know anything about the film; the poster can sometimes become the DVD box art or thumbnail picture on your Video On Demand service. It's what sells the movie before you hear or see one visual of it.
We can learn a lot about a movie from its promotional material; and while some studios might not have the budget for polished design work, we can certainly get a sense of the creative minds that went into the actual feature film from how they promote it.
A unique poster design might suggest an original idea, whereas a poster format we've seen done to death can evoke a paint-by-numbers sense that (while might be fine for some) just reeks of unoriginal and carelessness in what's been created.
So what do we notice that's unoriginal in a movie poster? What trends, cliches and recurring occurrences do we want to see less of?
Here's a list of 15 trends in movie posters we could do with less of...
15. Romance Movies Box In Their Main Characters
Where might you see this? Posters for films like He's Just Not That Into You, Valentines Day, Mother's Day, About Last Night, Playing For Keeps...
Marketing a film about several romantic entanglements sounds easy at first, but if you were faced with the challenge yourself it's probably quite difficult when crunch time approaches. With half a dozen varied relationships taking part in a film, some of which don't ever intersect with one another at all, presenting the leads cohesively might become a bit of a task and a half.
But with romantic comedy/dramas (the biggest offenders are Garry Marshall ensembles), the posters seem to carry the same formula of inserting single-faced profile pictures of their leads lining the top and bottom of the frame like surveillance mug shots from an episode of The Wire.
It's comically bad to see on the poster; as most of the character pictures aren't even professional photography, but appear to be enhanced screen grabs from the movie itself. A better option would be for each couple to take photos like they're in a photo booth.
At least that way it doesn't look like guerrilla style photography spliced together to create a creepy collage dedicated to celebrity couples.