Original Movie Posters
An original movie poster is a poster
that is printed by a studio or film releasing company to advertise
the release of a movie in theaters.
Since a poster of any size printed to advertise a movie would
technically be a movie poster, to avoid confusion 27
x 40 inch posters are referred to as one-sheets in the
movie industry. Years ago, studios and exhibitors in addition
to the one-sheet used the following posters to advertise films:
lobby cards, window cards, half-sheets, inserts, 2-sheets,
3-sheets, 6-sheets, and huge billboard sized 24-sheets.
(See table: Types
of Movie Posters) The artwork displayed on these posters
can be different or similar to the artwork on the one-sheet.
Today, the one-sheet is the only type of poster printed in
quantity to advertise a film. A few other types are printed in
small quantities for specialized advertising purposes: mini
posters, extra large vinyl banners, large bus
stop posters, subway posters. Mini-posters, for example,
are often given away at premiere or advance screenings of a film.
They are usually scaled down versions of the one-sheet, but are
printed on lighter weight paper than the paper on which one-sheets
are printed.
Size and Issue of One-Sheet Movie Posters
 The
standard size of a one-sheet is a very large 27 x 40 inches,
but they often vary by a fraction of inch horizontally, vertically
or along both dimensions. Old
movie posters - one-sheets printed before the early to mid
1980's - were issued folded, generally an inch taller or longer
than contemporary posters, and often have a white border around
the artwork. (A few movie posters printed today have white borders
and measure 27 x 41 inches. Feeling Minnesota (one the
right) and Lost in Space [1998] are examples.)
| Movie Posters |
Size in Inches |
Mechanically
Folded |
| Contemporary One-Sheets |
27 x 40 |
1 to 5% |
| Old One-Sheets |
27 x 41 |
100% |
| One-Sheet Reprints |
see
reprints |
0% |
Format and Orientation of Movie PostersAlmost all graphic works (paintings, books, magazines, posters,
films) use a rectangular format. The orientation is either vertical
(portrait) or horizontal (landscape). Motion picture, Television
and computer screens are all rectangular as well.
| Vertical
- Portrait |
Horizontal
- Landscape |
The Matrix |
The Matrix British Quad |
Movie Posters are typically made to be displayed vertically
(poster on the left above). Half sheets, lobby cards and British
Quads (poster on the right above) are displayed horizontally.
The six-sheet movie poster is an exception as it was printed
square, usually a huge 81 x 81 inches.
National Screen Service Numbers
A NSS number (usually found in the lower right hand margin
of a poster or stamped on the back of a poster) has two components:
the year of release and the order of release.
The number 62/158 means that the film was released in
1962 and was 158th in order of release for that year. In later
years, the numbers weren't separated by a slash and contained
6 digits. For example, the NSS number for Ringo Starr's Caveman
is 810068. The first two digits 810068
represent the year of release and the next four digits 810068
the order of release. Thus from looking at the number we would
know that Caveman was released in 1981 and was 68th
in order of release.
Note: NSS numbers were used primarily for inventory management
and distribution purposes. They are not serial numbers. They
do not represent the number of posters that were printed for
a film. The presence of a NSS number on a poster does not guarantee
it is an original poster. If an original poster is reprinted
and has a NSS number, the reprint will have the number as well.
National Screen Service (NSS) numbers only appear on posters
that were distributed by the NSS. If a film was released by an
independent studio or distributor there will be no NSS numbers
on the posters. If a film was released before the NSS took over
the distribution of posters (beginning in early 1940's) there
will be no NSS numbers. NSS may not appear on "international"
release posters and no longer appear on new posters. Even though
the NSS went out of business several years ago, most studios
had already begun to distribute posters themselves beginning
in the 1980's. By the mid 1990's only a few movie posters have
NSS numbers.
First Release and Re-release Movie PostersFirst release movie posters are the posters that
are printed for the first release or first advertising campaign
for a film. If a movie is released again in theaters new posters
are printed for the re-release. Gone With The Wind has
been re-released many times over the years and for each subsequent
release new posters were printed. (See Gone With The Wind
R1998 for an example.) The artwork of a re-release poster may
be the same as the artwork for the first release but often new
artwork is used.
When the National Screen Service (see paragraph above) was
in charge of the distribution of movie posters to theaters re-release
posters were marked with an R before the year of re-release
in their poster numbering scheme. The numbers, for example, R58/125
would mean a movie was re-released in 1958 and was the 125th
movie released that year. If a number does not have an R
preceding it (58/126 for example) it means that a film's
first release was in 1958 and it was the 126th movie released
that year.
Styles of Movie Posters
For many movies only one poster with title and credits is
printed and used during the entire advertising campaign of a
film. For a small number of films which studios anticipate to
be popular "teaser" or "advance" posters
(without credits and with or without the title of the film) will
be printed to create interest in the film before the film is
released in theaters. A "regular" release poster usually
follows the teaser and advance posters which will have the film's
title and credits. If more than one teaser, advance or regular
poster is printed they are designated as ADV Style A,
ADV Style B, etc. or REG Style A, REG Style
B, etc. Most posters do not carry a caption to denote the
style so it can be confusing to determine which style is which.
International or Int'l posters are printed for use in
English speaking countries outside of the U.S., and like U.S.
release posters there can be more than one international style.
Printing of Movie PostersContemporary movie posters are typically printed on medium
weight coated offset paper and may be printed on one side ("single-sided
posters") or on both sides ("double-sided posters").
A few posters are printed on silver coated polyester film and
are referred to as "mylar posters." Mylar
is the brand name of the polyester film produced by DuPont. Almost
all movie posters printed before the early 1980's were mechanically
folded by the printers. Most contemporary movie posters (95 to
98%) and all reprints and reproductions are unfolded. (An unfolded
movie poster of a classic movie is almost always a reprint
or reproduction.)
Double-sided posters are printed primarily for use in rear
illuminated (lightbox) poster display cases. The image printed
on the back is a reverse of the image on the front. The image
on the back may not be as bright or crisp and can appear faded
in comparison to the image on the front. If the poster has a
dark background the image on the back may not appear faded at
all.
Note: Although double sided movie posters have a reverse image
of the poster on the front, a poster for the video release of
Spawn actually had two different images - the one on the front
was different from the one on the back. Some collectors won't
buy anything but double-sided posters in the belief that double-sided
posters are "always" original. This may not be the
best rule of thumb to follow in determining whether or not a
poster is "original" since there are now publishers
who are printing a few licensed reprints as double-sided posters
(very few, though, in comparison to the number of single-sided
reprints that are produced). For information about using movie
posters in rear illuminated poster display cases see the section
I have in Movie Poster Frames FAQ: Double-Sided
Posters and Rear Illuminated Poster Display Cases.
Foreign Movie Posters
Foreign movie posters are posters printed for advertising
the release of films in countries outside of the United States.
Foreign movie posters can feature the same artwork as U.S. release
posters or be entirely different. Titles, credits, tag lines
are generally in the language of the country in which the movie
is released.
Foreign movie posters can be the same size as the U.S. one-sheet,
but often they are either larger or smaller than the U.S. one-sheet,
and often go by other names. In the UK they are known as "quads"
(30 x 40 inch posters in landscape or horizontal format). In
Australia there are 27 x 40 inch Australian one-sheets
and insert sized (13 x 33 inch) day bills. In France
extra large (47 x 63 inch) grand posters are used for
outdoor advertising but there are also small petit posters
used in theaters.
The term one-sheet is also used to describe the standard
sized movie posters used in other countries. Standard
size doesn't necessarily mean the same size as a U.S.
one-sheet. Even though British and Australian one-sheets are
typically 27 x 41 inches, German one-sheets are much
smaller, usually around 23 x 33 inches. They are also known as
A1 German posters after the international standard (ISO)
A1 paper on which they are printed. If you intend to buy a foreign
movie poster that is described as a one-sheet be sure
and look for or ask the seller for the dimensions of the poster
to avoid any misunderstanding about the size of poster you expect
to receive.
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