6. Prometheus
Another stunning IMAX poster, this is an even creeper version of the already very mysterious and effective one sheet, which also featured the giant head in the vase room. Prometheus had one of the most brilliant marketing campaigns of any film this year, and this beautiful poster is just the cherry on top. All throughout the campaign, the filmmakers avoided putting the all-star cast front and center, instead emphasizing the mood and atmosphere that made the film so good.
5. Killing Them Softly
Killing Them Softly is the most underrated movie of the year, but that's besides the point. It's a shame because it really wasn't marketed for what it actually is: an existential musing on the American Dream. The one sheet was a bland affair, featuring a gun-toting Brad Pitt against a simple black background. But the filmmakers actually released a whole series of these stunning graphic posters riffing off of imagery of crime and Americana, any of which could take this spot on the list. Take a look at some of the other posters
here.
4. Looper
Simplicity is once again the key in this poster: against a stark white background and featuring its two stars, this poster still manages to perfectly graphically illustrate the basic premise of the film. I also love the clock hands in the first O in Looper. It's those subtle little touches that really make a poster.
3. Zero Dark Thirty
Like the Looper poster, through the power of graphic design this poster for Zero Dark Thirty manages to represent the entire film: much like the film itself, the poster features a vast collage of characters, scenes and images, all coming together to create one cohesive whole (in this case, the film's title). It is complex and yet simple and straightforward at the same time, and so it works on multiple levels. The poster also strikes a very appealing balance of color and graphic imagery, which makes it all the more admirable.
2. The Master
For the most part, foreign posters of films are either alternative versions of the U.S. or U.K. one sheet, abominable Photoshop anomalies, or some sort of combination of the two. But every once in a while, a foreign poster will come along that blows any others out of the water. Such is the case with the Turkish one sheet for the Master, featuring a brilliant, thematically relevant Rorschach ink blot design and beautiful hand-drawn renditions of the film's characters. It is a beautiful, mysterious image that perfectly reflects the tone of the film.
