The Artists - The Movie Posters of Drew Struzan
Ever walked past a movie poster and thought "that film looks good" even though you haven't seen the trailer? We all have. Movie posters are powerful.
At their best, they capture the magic and energy of an entire feature film in an image roughly 27 inches across by 40 inches long.
They can make, or break, a film. Yet, only rarely do the extremely talented artists behind them get a mention. There aren't many movie poster superstars.
But, there are a few, and, Drew Struzan is one of them.
In a career of over forty years, Struzan has brought us many of the world's most famous movie posters. Here, in a post to 'The Artists' series of the Original Movie Posters Blog, we have gathered together as many of his posters as we can.
Six of the Best...
Given that there are so many iconic posters to choose from, this isn't an easy task, but, today at least, these are our favourite six Drew Struzan movie posters...
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You can find these, and every Drew Struzan movie poster that we know of, below. We hope you enjoy looking through them. Do let us know which ones we have missed!
All The Posters
We have organised the posters by the year of the film's release. Clicking on a poster will open a higher-resolution version. The IMDb icon will take you to that film's entry on the IMDb website.
1970s
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Alice Cooper : Welcome To My Nightmare (1975)
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The Black Bird (1975)
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Car Wash (1976)
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The Food of the Gods (1976)
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Futureworld (1976)
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Harry and Walter Go To New York (1976)
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Killer Force (1976)
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Robin and Marian (1976)
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The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976)
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Small Town In Texas (1976)
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Squirm (1976)
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Empire of the Ants (1977)
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The Last Remake of Beau Geste (1977)
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March or Die (1977)
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A Piece of the Action (1977)
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Star Wars (Style D) (1977) (with Charles White)
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Star Wars (Re-Release) (1977)
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Tentacles (1977)
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Thunder and Lightning (1977)
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California Suite (1978)
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High-Ballin' (1978)
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Matilda (1978)
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The Norseman (1978)
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Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? (1978)
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The Evictors (1979)
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The Frisco Kid (1979)
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The Muppet Movie (1979)
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Sextette (1979)
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Tilt (1979)
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1980s
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Borderline (1980)
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Cabo Blanco (1980)
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The Empire Strikes Back (Re-Release) (1980)
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Oh Heavenly Dog (1980)
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Raise The Titanic (1980)
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All Night Long (1981)
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The Cannonball Run (1981)
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The Great Muppet Caper (1981)
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Incubus (1981)
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Kill Squad (1981)
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Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
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Blade Runner (1982)
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Fake Out (1982)
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First Blood (1982)
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I, The Jury (1982)
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Mother Lode (1982)
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The Thing (1982)
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Cross Creek (1983)
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D.C. Cab (1983)
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Heat and Dust (1983)
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Hercules (1983)
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The Pirates of Penzance (1983)
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Return of the Jedi (1983)
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Return of the Jedi (Re-Release) (1983)
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Risky Business (1983)
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Second Thoughts (1983)
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The Sting 2 (1983)
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Stroker Ace (1983)
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To Be Or Not To Be (1983)
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Under Fire (1983)
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The Bear (1984)
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Cannonball Run II (1984)
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Caravan of Courage (1984)
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Champions (1984)
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Dreamscape (1984)
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Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
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Johnny Dangerously (1984)
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Police Academy (1984)
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Sahara (1984)
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Unfaithfully Yours (1984)
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Back To The Future (1985)
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Better Off Dead (1985)
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The Goonies (1985)
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Ladyhawke (1985)
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Police Academy 2 (1985)
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Return to Oz (1985)
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American Justice (1986)
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An American Tail (1986)
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Big Trouble In Little China (1986)
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The Name of the Rose (1986)
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Police Academy 3 (1986)
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Weekend Warriors (1986)
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Adventures In Baby Sitting (1987)
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*Batteries Not Included (1987)
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Born in East L.A. (1987)
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Happy Hour (1987)
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Harry and the Hendersons (1987)
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Hot Pursuit (1987)
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Masters of the Universe (1987)
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Meatballs 3 (1987)
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Nadine (1987)
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The Outing (1987)
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Police Academy 4 (1987)
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Three O'Clock High (1987)
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Coming to America (1988)
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Into The Fire (1988)
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Moon Over Parador (1988)
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Sunset (1988)
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After School (1989)
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All's Fair (1989)
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Back to the Future II (1989)
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The Experts (1989)
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Harlem Nights (1989)
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Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
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Shirley Valentine (1989)
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1990s
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Back to the Future III (1990)
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Duck Tales : The Movie (1990)
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Hook (1991)
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Taking Care of Business (1991)
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The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
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Newsies (1992)
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Stay Tuned (1992)
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Hocus Pocus (1993)
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We're Back : A Dinosaur's Story (1993)
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Angel's In The Out-Field (1994)
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The Flintstones (1994)
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The Shawshank Redemption (Re-Release) (1994)
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Cut Throat Island (1995)
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A Gift From Heaven (1995)
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Mallrats (1995)
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Muppet Treasure Island (1996)
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The Phantom Menace (1999)
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2000s and Beyond...
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The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (2000)
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Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001)
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Attack of the Clones (2002)
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The Crocodile Hunter : Collision Course (2002)
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Hellboy (2004)
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Revenge of the Sith (2005)
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Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
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Super Capers (2009)
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Drew : The Man Behind The Poster (2013)
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Notes
1. As with all commercial artists, Drew produced some posters that weren't then picked up by the client. We have only included posters which we believe were actually used to promote a film. There are 'grey areas', for example, at the time of writing we did not include Drew's phenomenal poster for Pan's Labyrinth as we were not sure it had actually been used in a cinema / theatre. We have now seen three, so can be confident it was, albeit in a very limited capacity.
2. Drew has also produced many fantastic posters that weren't commissioned to directly publicise a movie. As a result, we have not included some great posters such as the "Star Wars : First Ten Years" poster.
3. Drew has produced some re-release and anniversary release posters. We have listed posters in the decade that the film was originally released, rather than the re-release date.
There you go, every Drew Struzan movie poster that we are aware of. If you'd like to read more about Drew and his amazing work, we can recommend:
'The Art of Drew Struzan' (Amazon UK) (Amazon US)
'Drew Struzan : Oeuvre' (Amazon UK) (Amazon US)
Plus, of course, the film about his work, "Drew : The Man Behind The Poster" (Amazon UK) (Amazon US)
To see which posters by Drew we currently have available, just click here.
Adam and the Art of the Movies team
