If theres one piece of a movies marketing that's vital to bringing in the masses, its the poster. Unlike a trailer, the poster has just one shot at attracting the eye and interest of a potential viewer - and is usually the first port of call when entering the theatre or, in this day and age, the IMDb page. While some posters fail miserably to represent the many layers of a feature film and show little to no artistic merit, others do such a blindingly good job that the film doesn't even have to be any good. Many lacklustre movies owe their hefty box-office profits to a well designed poster by a more talented artist. The beautifully hand-drawn efforts of the 1950's B-Movies are prime examples that using nothing but a sheet of paper and a pencil, the movies can really come alive before you even set foot in an auditorium. In fact, some posters are so iconic that they've found their way out of theatre lobbies and into people's homes, taking pride of place above the fireplace. That said, the plain truth of it is that some of these films are terrible and never saw the light of day, but others happen to be amongst the greatest ever made. Its important to remember that we aren't judging the films themselves here, but the poster alone and we must do so without bias. This is a definitive gallery worthy of any lobby, lounge or study - once and for all and all in one place. The greatest achievements in movie poster history...
KJ Lewis is 35 years old, was able to rear three small children into three slightly bigger children and has a relatively untested and unfounded passion for writing.
You can find him at Twitter: @onefistintheair or Facebook: KJ Lewis
