The Original Movie Posters Blog - Art of the Movies

Over the Christmas break we found a book we had not seen before. Written by Gregory J Edwards and Robin Cross, it’s title was more than a little intriguing to the movie poster lover…

Published in 1984, “Worst Movie Posters of All Time – A Treasury of Trash” promised to ‘sterilize me with fear’ and that within its pages ‘… shame exploiters compete with each other for the supreme accolade of WORST MOVIE POSTER OF ALL TIME…”

In December, continuing their long-standing collaboration, Bonhams Auctioneers and Turner Classic Movies (TCM) held their “TCM Presents … 1939: Hollywood’s Greatest Year” auction.

In this unusually named auction there were a few stand out pieces for the movie poster enthusiast and they all came from the personal collection of movie poster legend Tom Jung...

Have you noticed the movie posters at your local cinema?

They radiate light, just like the movie screen.

Ever wonder how it's done? 

It's the magic of a cinema light box...

How many times did you visit the cinema in 2019? We averaged a couple of times a month. Given what we do, I imagine that's not a surprise.

What about the average cinema goer? How has that changed over the past few years? 

We decided to do a little research with the help of the excellent UK Cinema Association. What we found was a surprising and fascinating story...

We would like to thank you all for helping to make 2019 such a fantastic year. We hope that you all have an amazing 2020.

Our 2019 Christmas cards featured some of our favourite quotes from the best Christmas movies.

Didn't recognise yours? No problem. You can find them all below. 

How many of us have sat staring at a movie poster wishing that we could be part of the movie? 

We've been doing just that watching "The Dark Crystal : Age of Resistance" on Netflix and before it premiered, we had our chance to star, if only for a few seconds in a small clip... 

Halloween is only a couple of weeks away, so we thought we would get you in the ‘trick or treat’ mood with an opportunity to watch the very first horror film (from 1896) and see a few of our favourite scary movie posters!

Which is your favourite film for the witching hour?

This week marks the first birthday of the Original Movie Posters Blog - sixty-nine posts showcasing movie poster history, movie poster artists (old and new) and the latest in movie news.

Thank you for reading and being a part of it!

In celebration, this week we are going to take a look at this rare and intriguing Star Wars poster...

Bidding on the second ‘Original Film Posters Online’ sale of the year closed at Sotheby’s on the 5th September, with the one hundred and ninety lots returning a total auction value of £393,000. That’s nearly £500,000 with Sotheby’s 25% buyer’s premium.

The results painted an interesting picture...

Back in June we featured a chat with movie poster illustrator Paul Shipper, focussed on an upcoming panel discussion at July's San Diego Comic-Con. 

"Masters of the Illustrated Film Poster" featured eight talented illustrators discussing their influences and the impact that the illustrated movie poster has had on their lives.

For those of us that couldn't make it to San Diego, the full panel discussion is now available on-line. So, grab a cup of tea / coffee / juice and relax, you can watch it below...

This week sees a landmark exhibition at the newly renovated Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Florida. “Coming Soon: Film Posters from the Dwight M. Cleveland Collection” takes over 200 posters from the 3000 held in the museum’s ’Cleveland Collection’ to present the largest ever museum exhibition of classic movie posters.

In this week's blog post we take a little look at the fascinating background to this amazing collection...

First and foremost, it is the aesthetic appeal of original movie posters that appeals to us, but we also keep an eye on the market, particularly when some rarer posters are up for auction.

The rarest posters are generally from the first half of the Twentieth Century, where only one copy may now remain. From the second half, James Bond posters are frequently the higher prices at auction.

So it was at the June 2019 ‘Cinema Poster Live Auction’ at the UK’s ‘Prop Store’, where James Bond posters stole the show. Here are the top five James Bond results…