Is My Star Wars Poster Real?
We love hearing from fellow movie and poster fans! Among the many queries we receive, there is one question that we get asked a lot.
Most often the poster is portrait format with the fantastic Star Wars artwork by British artist Tom Chantrell.
Star Wars artwork by Tom Chantrell
Let's start by defining what we mean by real.
An original movie poster is a poster that was issued by a movie studio, or by another company authorised by the studio, for display in a cinema, or for promotional use at the time of a film’s release.
This does not include posters produced to be sold directly to the public, even if they were produced around the time of the film's release.
Let's get two easy to spot posters out of the way.
Zig Zag Posters (1993)
Zig Zag Posters is a German company with a wide range of licences for the production and sale of reproduction movie posters. This means their posters are produced with the permission of the intellectual property owner. In the case of Star Wars, this is Lucasfilm Ltd., abbreviated to LFL.
In 1993 they produced a poster based on the Star Wars 'Style C' one sheet movie poster.
The print quality is excellent, but there are two clear signs that this is not an original movie poster. It is the wrong size, 24 inches x 36 inches, and has clear copyright information centre bottom of the poster.
This is a highly decorative poster that displays well and looks fantastic framed. But it is not an original movie poster.
Portal Publications PTW531 (1990s)
Just like Zig Zag, Portal Publications (a U.S. poster company based just outside of San Francisco) obtained licenses from Lucasfilm Limited to print and sell a range of Star Wars related movie posters.
One of these was also a reproduction of the Star Wars 'Style C' movie poster.
Again, the print quality is great, but there are also two clear signs that this is not an original movie poster. It is the wrong size, 24 inches x 36 inches, and has clear copyright information and a poster reference number at the bottom of the poster.
Bottom left:
Bottom right:
So, again, this is a decorative poster that will look great framed and on display, but it is not an original movie poster.
An Original Star Wars Style 'C' One Sheet Movie Poster (1977)
So, if you have a portrait format poster with Tom Chantrell's amazing artwork, what should you be looking for?
You are looking for a Star Wars 'Style C' One Sheet movie poster. These were produced in the United States in late 1977, for use in English speaking countries outside of the U.S. They are rare beasts.
You can see an example of an original Star Wars ‘Style C' Movie Poster below.
It measures 27 inches x 41 inches and has the following text at the bottom.
Bottom Left:
Bottom Right:
Unfortunately, there are fakes of this poster. That is, posters that were not produced under license, with the permission of Lucasfilm Limited, but, posters that were produced with the objective of deceiving the buyer.
Luckily, there are a few tell-tale signs of the forgery.
Fake Star Wars 'Style C' Movie Poster
Below you can see an image of one of these fake 'Style C' movie posters.
It is the correct size (27 inches x 41 inches) and has the right text in the bottom left and bottom right corners.
The most obvious 'tells' of the fake are:
1. The Colours
In comparison to the original, the skin-tones and faces are far too orange. In addition, if you look above, you can see that Han's and Leia's blaster fire has lost a lot of its colour.
2. Leia's 'Hairy Back'
While it can be pretty hard to spot, on the fake poster, there is a 'hair' / scratch on the back of Leia's gown.
3. R2-D2's 'Hairy Strut'
Far more easy to spot, on the fake poster, there is a 'hair' / scratch on the astromech robot's centre wheel strut.
Unfortunately, if your Star Wars 'Style C' movie poster exhibits any of those 'tells', then it is a forgery or reproduction.
I Still Think My Poster Might Be Original...
If your poster:
- Is not 24 inches x 36 inches, but is 27 inches x 41 inches...
- Does not have Zig Zag or Portal Publications copyright text, but has the correct text at the bottom...
- Does not have any of the 'tells' of the known forgery...
... then it may well be original! Congratulations!
You can find all of the Star Wars posters that we currently have to offer here.
Adam and the Art of the Movies team.
