DVD Doppelgängers: Burn After Reading Update!

Way back in 2010 I first posted about the apparent popularity of the Burn After Reading DVD cover, which spawned at least two blatant imitations of which I was aware.

Here's the cover to refresh your memory. For the record I do like the retro look of the design, with the off-kilter photo placement and the hand-lettered logo. It's definitely an homage to movie posters of the 1960s and a welcome change from the Photoshopped clones that infest current multiplexes.

Apparently I'm not the only one who likes it, as two years later it continues to inspire DVD cover designers.

I was in the video store today and saw this. I'm sure that the designer didn't intentionally steal the Burn After Reading design for this project. I'm betting it's just a coincidence that it's exactly the same in every measurable sense. The fact that the actors' names written across the top, the character photos laid out in an off-kilter grid, and the logo in the center in a retro font (hard to tell if it's truly hand-lettered or not, as none of the letters are repeated)... no doubt it all came about by pure chance. Including the same red background.

HAW! Had you going there, didn't I? Drew you right into my trap. There's no way in hell this was anything but an intentional swipe. Someone was definitely under the deadline gun, couldn't think of a good idea and just reworked the Burn cover, hoping I wouldn't notice and call them on it.

I also saw this. Not quite as blatant as the Let Go cover, but it definitely shares some design DNA with the Burn cover.