50 Beautiful Movie Posters
Movie posters are art and, unfortunately, the forgotten one. In the early years of cinema history, they were used just like advertising material. Displayed in theatres only, movie posters had the same function as a menu in a restaurant: what feast can I enjoy this evening? Nowadays, movie posters play a big role in cinema memorabilia collection. They have lost the “informative” tone to wear a more artistic and decorative dress. We want to change it with this post.
Made in many different sizes and versions, and released in different moments all along a movie’s life, posters immortalize in one static image the feeling and the atmosphere of a motion picture. Some posters can be dark or try to frighten the audience, others bedazzling with bright colors; some can be someway informative, while others can be fully teasing and may provide you only the date when movie will be released, even if you may not know what the movie is about.
In this post we present you a showcase of 50 beautiful movie posters. We went through different decades of movie history and different genre, different graphical approach, colors and style. Movies the posters are about may be famous or not, this is not the point.
Movie posters put together the love for for two different visual arts: cinema and graphics. Enjoy!
You may also want to take a look at the related posts:
50 Beautiful Movie Posters
The Spirit (Upcoming, December 2008)
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street (2007)
The U.S. vs. John Lennon (2006)
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Dr. Strangelove (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb) (1964)
Good The Bad And The Ugly (1966)
Italian version.
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Last Click
Beyond A Reasonable Doubt (1956)
Please note the advice’s style (highlighted with the red circle) for the audience: an innocent suggestion or just marketing?.
Resources
- Film Posters History On Wikipedia
- Movie Genre Classification on Wikipedia
- impawards.com
Internet Movie Poster Awards, with all the lates movie poster news and updates. - imdb.com
International Movie Data Base (IMDB), probably the most authoritative and well known movie website. - A Gray Space Poster Gallery
Some artistic Polish movie poster - Cinemasterpieces.com
A good place where to buy movie memorabilia: old and original movie posters. - movieposteraddicted.com
Another good site about movie and movie posters. - Posterwire.com
A movie poster weblog. - Movieposter.com
A huge archive of movie poster. - Science-Fiction Movie Posters Archive
- 50 Incredible Film Posters From Poland
- Weird Posters: Wrong Side Of The Art
- PosterWhore
Social bookmarking for movie posters. - Internet Movie Posters Awards
- Kerry Ropper’s Selection
- Michael Heilemann’s Movie Posters Collection
- Movie Poster Blog
- Vintage Horror & Sci-Fi Posters through the 1940s
- Posters Flickr Pool
- Hand-Drawn Movie Posters
- A Grayspace Poster Gallery
- 31 Great Movie Posters
Related posts
You may also want to take a look at the related posts:
You may also want to take a look at the related posts:
ADX
October 12th, 2008 2:08 pmThose posters are great. Nice collection.
Albert
October 12th, 2008 2:32 pmLot of retro style posters. Nice collection.
Minimall
October 12th, 2008 2:34 pmAmazing collection of posters! I was shocked, when i saw links to movies nearby every poster! It was ver hard work, i respect to Alessandro Cattaneo!
P.S. Sorry for bad english, i’m ukrainian ;)
David
October 12th, 2008 2:36 pmGreat Collection!
I agree… I miss this slowly fading art.
Quakeulf
October 12th, 2008 2:38 pmIMHO, this is a way better cover for “Th’ good, th’ bad ‘n’ th’ ugly”:
http://spaghettiwesterns.1g.fi/dvd/Good_Bad_Ugly_SE_DVD_eng.jpg
Otherwise, nice list, but it got a bit uninspired in the end before the last click after “Man With One Red Shoe”, and what about Raiders of the lost ark? :o
Jojo Siao
October 12th, 2008 2:42 pmNice collection! I love the “Vacancy” the best!
Marcos Vera Chávez
October 12th, 2008 2:53 pmThe THX 1138 poster is not precisely the actual movie poster, this is the design for the special edition on dvd
faizal
October 12th, 2008 2:54 pmgreat collection, but where is jurassic park? forrest gump?
Marc Dandoy
October 12th, 2008 3:21 pmI honestly do not see how some of these posters made it here.
Ace of Spades
October 12th, 2008 3:55 pmWow….Great Post…..PULP FICTION is the best.
Dan
October 12th, 2008 4:13 pmGreat that Saul Bass’ work (“Vertigo”) made it in there – he’s the master! You can see several other posters in this collection that directly reference or draw inspiration from him (particularly the mean streets one). And that one for The Shining that uses his original typography of course!
Amanda
October 12th, 2008 4:26 pmSo inspiring! Most of these are really amazing. I think the first W post is lackluster and I’ve always been bothered by the placement of the type in Moulin Rouge with the stars names. Given that they are catering to some pretty big egos I can understand, otherwise its gorgeous. Love to see so many traditional paintings and illustrations in there- I love paintings done on the computer just as much but sometimes people forget about our design past!
This makes me want to do more post designs. What a creative field!
Xenos
October 12th, 2008 4:31 pmOnce again a great collection. I really like the old movies and retro posters. The W poster is lame. Funny quotes but the poster does not compete with the others here. I don’t see anything appealing or compelling about it.
Matt S
October 12th, 2008 5:32 pmWoah, where did you find those posters for The Fountain? Were they the international versions or something? They are awesome.
brandon Kish
October 12th, 2008 6:15 pmI love the “Perfume” movie poster, so much so when I seen it in the movie store I bought it due to the cover, and it turned out to be a very good movie!
Anthony Perno
October 12th, 2008 6:15 pmChinatown ?
k
October 12th, 2008 6:19 pmthis is just a collection of movies the author enjoyed.
heather
October 12th, 2008 6:28 pmgreat collection. Dug planet of the apes, never seen that one before, it’s a fantastic poster. also vertigo, day watch, v for vendetta and dark knight were great selections.
Friedbeef
October 12th, 2008 6:29 pmAwesome :)
Danh ba web 2.0
October 12th, 2008 6:33 pmGreat list ! Thanks you
Roshan
October 12th, 2008 6:38 pmGreat collection. Love the work done in posters. very inspiring and most of these are really amazing.
Roshan
Hind
October 12th, 2008 6:54 pmThough I dislike retro style, I found some interesting retro posters in this list. I liked ‘The Birds’, ‘Forrest Gump’, ‘Perfume’, and ‘American Beuaty’ the best.
Great efforrt Alessandro Cattaneo and Smashing Magazine Team, thank you so much.
Viv Singh
October 12th, 2008 7:15 pmyou may also be interested in:
http://www.vivsin.com/2008/10/16-very-creative-movie-posters/
Axes
October 12th, 2008 7:57 pmI would like to add “The Spirit” [the three-split poster version]
http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/images/spirit-poster1.jpg
chokilala
October 12th, 2008 8:11 pmi only remember posters of forrest gump and nightmare before christmas
Purab
October 12th, 2008 9:00 pmsuperb work man. i have a new set of movies to watch now :)
Stefon
October 12th, 2008 9:03 pmNice, The Color Purple would be a nice one to add
salvador
October 12th, 2008 9:22 pmwow… what a nice collection of movie posters… like from tarantino´s films
jose luis
October 12th, 2008 9:54 pmCepillin? Cepillin?…I fucking love Cepillin …haha… he’s he greatest of all clowns…even though I hate clowns he’s still an amazing character…fond memories from Mexico….
Sam
October 12th, 2008 10:41 pmI love those movie posters. One of my biggest dreams, to make my own one.. :D
Thanx for this article!
(Why don’t you make an article about DVD Covers? Because they often don’t look so great like the movie posters…)
Orlando Diez
October 12th, 2008 10:42 pmCool, great post (Y)
Ash
October 12th, 2008 11:05 pmWow, I love this collection !
Colin
October 12th, 2008 11:56 pmI have to agree with a previous poster. This list seems to be a list of posters the author enjoyed. The Bank Job? Kill Bill? Cloverfiled Those are hardly artistic examples.
I’d also like to mention The Thing and Planet of the Apes posters are from special alamo draft house theater screenings. The shining poster is from an art show and a few other posters are not from original screenings.
Roland
October 13th, 2008 12:27 amPuhlease… I love movies and their related artworks, but kill bill as a good example of a beautiful poster? Come on!
There are quite a few that are really good though, and ranging from old to new. There may be a bit too much emphasis on the new IMO, as it’s far more inspiring to me to think of the trouble designers had to go through 20, 30 years ago to make posters that rival today’s Photoshopped stuff.
Also, try writing your posts in a word processor and running spell check prior to posting them online. “We went trought different decades of movie history” WTF is trought?
mee
October 13th, 2008 12:30 amCool collection, but why is there no asian movie, I miss thous a little …
Paddy Duke
October 13th, 2008 12:47 amSmashing strikes again. A regurgitated list of posters for popular movies is not fresh content. Unedited, guest authored content will be the downfall of this magazine.
Movie posters are not a “forgotten art”. Poster art is highly celebrated and recognised. The author seems confused in the intro and contradicts himself, before going on to post a few good examples of iconic movie poster design, mixed in amongst some forty-odd mediocre, run of the mill, mainstream posters.
Once again, a poor show from SM.
Justin
October 13th, 2008 1:16 amLove the Grinhouse series ! … There were some I had seen but others are quite new to me cause I saw the public poster only such as the Dark Knight one ! Also love that retro feel in some of the posters ! A true work of art indeed !
Ben
October 13th, 2008 1:28 amwhy was the poster for the ring two with the girl sitting in the chair not included? I think thats one of the most powerful and disturbing movie posters i’ve ever seen
florian
October 13th, 2008 1:30 amthe japanese poster of “Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain”
http://img241.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ameliext8.jpg
and:
http://film.fit.edu/img/fall02b.jpg
blestenation
October 13th, 2008 1:39 amalthough it is a great poster, blestenation is not a movie but a music band.
http://www.myspace.com/blestenation
lol
logicalnot
October 13th, 2008 1:56 amGreat but…
No french poster, no indian poster, not enought from the rest of the world (>80% of the population).
Good job anyway.
Quentin T
October 13th, 2008 1:56 amGrindhouse?! Black Snake Moan’s a much better poster of that style…
I think this list should be renamed to ‘Cool posters what I like’. Posters are STILL playing the part of the informative advertising material in cinemas – with sometimes stages of teaser, main campaign etc. Would love to know where the author goes to the cinema.
Leigh
October 13th, 2008 2:02 amThe Birds poster is not the original, that was done recently by Corey Holms for “Now Showing” Exploring the Lost “Art” of the Film Poster.http://www.flickr.com/photos/keepsmesane/sets/72157601618281265/
Jaime V
October 13th, 2008 2:31 amAgree with logicalnot. Seven Samurai’s (B & W) poster is one of the best in terms of composition, amongst other Kurosawa’s. Nice collection
Vitaly Friedman & Sven Lennartz
October 13th, 2008 2:58 am@all: please notice that this post was not intended to showcase best examples of movie posters art, but to provide some interesting ideas for designers and artists.
Flo
October 13th, 2008 3:07 amYeah thats why the category is named ‘Monday Inspiration’!
Great inspiration as always, thank you!
greg
October 13th, 2008 3:55 amI know there’s so many that you couldn’t include all of them but, honestly, these seem much better to me than Cloverfield or one of the Grindhouses…
http://www.impawards.com/2006/prestige_ver5.html
http://www.impawards.com/2006/madeas_family_reunion_ver2.html
Quakeulf
October 13th, 2008 4:08 amJust subject Alessandro Cattaneo to some delicate caning and we can get back to business for future updates, then. >:3
Movie Poster Forum
October 13th, 2008 5:08 amCool Top 50 – Some i expected to see there, some I didn’t. Would have been disapointed if Mean Streets and Vertigo were not in there though.
Cheers
Goodfella
Christopher Ross (thisismyurl.com)
October 13th, 2008 5:08 amThat’s awesome! I had Beyond A Reasonable Doubt hanging in my studio for years, right beside my Clockwork Orange. Chris
aniec2
October 13th, 2008 5:15 amLovely!
paul
October 13th, 2008 6:05 amPropper bo!
manue
October 13th, 2008 6:32 amcepillin bravo!!
Cliff
October 13th, 2008 6:57 amFor goodness sake, these are just 50 beautiful posters, its just an inspiration for designers like me, why do some of you keep complaining that this is better, that is better,
“I honestly do not see how some of these posters made it here.”,
oh come on, the title did not say that these are ‘the best movie posters ever’, did it? Just merely inspiration.
Anyways good work SM, I loved the post!
webguygary
October 13th, 2008 8:20 amnice list, I’d also add:
The Exorcist
Jaws
Any Monty Python ala Terry Gilliam
ET
Plan 9 From Outer Space
Yellow Submarine
Casablanca
Metropolis
Robert Bowen
October 13th, 2008 8:34 amNice collection, some really nice stuff!
Herr Klaus
October 13th, 2008 9:06 amSome are actually pretty ugly (Excalibur). But well loved for being typical. Thanks!
Antonio Wells
October 13th, 2008 9:09 amI love The Dark Knight “Why So Serious” the most.
Intentor
October 13th, 2008 9:11 amSimply amazing! The one from Dexter is terrific!
roro
October 13th, 2008 9:17 amWhat?! you forgot Pink Floyd The Wall!
Lori Robinson
October 13th, 2008 9:37 amI have the Pulp Fiction poster in my office at work. Gets a lot of comments. Great for my Marketing role. Thanks for spreading the word!
MSOnWired
October 13th, 2008 9:45 amI love the Vacancy poster. That one word jumps out at you. Zodiac design is cool too. Love the fog use.
onwired.com
Leoferr
October 13th, 2008 10:44 amAwesome! That’s a expected for a long time. Good choice Smashing.
styletime
October 13th, 2008 11:53 amStars Wars will alway’s be a classic!
Tennyson Williams
October 13th, 2008 12:44 pmThat’s an interesting perspective that we forget about, but their is still a necessity for posters and even matte paintings, which is really cool and keeps all forms of art alive.
Violeta
October 13th, 2008 1:33 pmVery nice collection! (;
Michel
October 13th, 2008 1:42 pmEssenitally posters after 1970. Why ?
Justin
October 13th, 2008 4:17 pmI can’t believe you didn’t include Scarface.
Shame on you.
R.Zonde
October 13th, 2008 6:37 pmone poster that I thought was pretty nice was the one for Midnight Meat Train
Michael
October 13th, 2008 6:45 pmThe Sweeney Todd poster features the Big Ben in the window. This was removed from the original poster because the Big Ben didn’t exist at the time of Sweeney Todd.
Peter
October 14th, 2008 6:05 amHi, excellent collection indeed. Great job! One missing from the list, in my opinion, is Kieslowski’s “Trois Couleurs Bleu” (Three colours blue), showing mysteriously beautiful Juliette Binoche in one of her best roles ever.
Norman Roberts
October 14th, 2008 6:49 amThanks for a great list of movie visual posters
No Subscription Required
emily
October 14th, 2008 7:23 amHow does “The Good German” qualify when it’s nothing more than a ripoff of the iconic “Casablanca” poster (which, btw, is an unforgiveable omission)?
Cosmi
October 14th, 2008 10:26 am@ Beyond A Reasonable Doubt (1956)
I think it’s all about marketing.
Long View
October 14th, 2008 11:59 amBLADE RUNNER?!?!?!?!
And if that poster for The Graduate is not a late ’60′s iconic image for all times, I will eat my hat!
Sara
October 14th, 2008 1:25 pmUmm.. you searched through DECADES of movie history and yet boring posters for “W.” appear on this list? C’mon! There are soo many lush, beautiful, inspiring posters from the early decades of film. I realize that not everyone may agree, but I think you left out quite a few “decades” here, hitting only the obvious highlights (“Vertigo”, etc).
Not to mention you opened this article with a paragraph about how movie posters and advertising were crucial to movie’s success in the early days; yet you hardly have any early movie posters, which had to work their hardest to sell the movie to the viewer without any internet or television marketing.
Mike the pcrobot
October 14th, 2008 2:45 pmVery nice set!
a
October 15th, 2008 3:17 amdwdwd
K
October 15th, 2008 8:18 amI love the sparsely designed posters, as well as the ‘era’ themed posters, (Death Proof & 28 Weeks Later). The pick for The Bank Job, however, is NOT the most beautiful choice for that movie.
This one is classic and quite possibly number 1 in overall design.
wade
October 15th, 2008 8:20 amI would love to be able to see tutorials on how to create some of the effects in these movies posters. Great collection!
Rob Quigley
October 15th, 2008 8:42 am“The Shining” poster is for an art show about the movie, not a movie.
Russ C.
October 16th, 2008 2:47 amA great selection as always; the only thing is Blestenation isn’t a filme, it’s a rap music group!
Peter B
October 16th, 2008 5:42 amWhen your sitting there, between cups of coffee and your vision and imagination is starting to flag, the Smashing team’s pages are always there to jolt you back into production. Lets take it in the spirit it is given and not forever criticise, great work SM.
Bobby the K
October 16th, 2008 9:19 amAlmost every one would be considered modern. And almost every one is American. If you factored in posters from Japan, Europe, Eastern Europe, India etc. You would have a potentially huge, interesting and exciting series.
hodak
October 16th, 2008 11:28 amThese posters are awesome, but… Why there is no Godfather
It’s hard to rate poster with no thinking about the movie. Respect ;)
Matthew
October 16th, 2008 2:16 pmThere was a feature like this on another site, and the most captivating example I found there was the Downhill Racer Poster
ashley
October 16th, 2008 3:18 pmtarantino fan much?
lol. im pretty sure that the reason why most of his movie posters are of massive amounts of badass is because he is a fan of movie posters if im not mistaken… along with foreign language martial arts movies from the 70s. lol.
Adam Alyan
October 17th, 2008 1:38 amWhether you have seen some of them or not, it’s a very refreshing flash back.
Cheers Smashing!
Donovan
October 20th, 2008 2:03 pmTalk about a blast from the past!
Matt
October 21st, 2008 7:06 amPlanet of the Apes was done by artist Tod Slater for Alamo He does amazing gig posters as well…
http://www.toddslater.net/
Booliant
November 5th, 2008 9:19 pmwow~ they are awesome!!!
Markel
November 14th, 2008 10:32 pmIt should be more appreciated, I think.
Really great!!!
I love the dark knight’s poster.
DT
November 17th, 2008 2:09 amNice collection. I’d also toss ‘Run Lola Run’ (the German version of the poster, not the North American), and Blade Runner into the mix.
Walter
November 17th, 2008 8:48 amReal Nice. What about “Premonition”? I think it deserves to be in this list.
shawon
November 30th, 2008 10:54 amthese collection are terrific.
sshaiikat
December 1st, 2008 12:49 pmsometimes i think i have to live….live for seeing the best creator of the man …..the movie collection is really very nice.
Ron Burgundy
December 2nd, 2008 5:16 amlove ‘the birds’ poster. can’t explain why, but i reckon its insane!
greeen
December 12th, 2008 7:18 pmgood ones, i also really like the burn after reading poster
isabelle_yang
December 13th, 2008 5:57 amLove the collection. What about Hard Candy?
Amelia
January 5th, 2009 7:36 pmthese r wierd posters