What Happened To The Art Of Movie Poster Design: Some Actual GOOD Examples!

For the past month or so I've been obsessively complaining about the sorry state of current movie poster design. 99% of it is pure, undiluted crap that would embarrass a first year art student. When I look at the artwork lining the walls of my local cineplex, I'm baffled as to how any of it was ever approved, much less printed and sent out for use.

Today I thought I'd try something different for a change, and present a precious few movie posters that are actually GOOD. Bear with me—  I'm a little rusty, as I'm not used to praising poster art. 

First up is the Japanese poster for Godzilla: King Of The Monsters. They went with an illustrated design here rather than photos, which is much appreciated. The four main monsters are all stylishly represented, as they're intertwined with what I assume is the film's title. Love the bold red background too. Kudos!

Next is this IMAX poster for Toy Story 4: The Unnecessary Sequel. The third film tied up the series with a perfect narrative bow, making this fourth outing nothing more than a shameless cash grab on Disney's part. 

That said, this is a damn fine poster. As I noted above, I love illustrated posters and would take one any day over a design cobbled together from a dozen photos.

I like the character designs here, that manage to capture the look of the 3D models in two dimensions. The predominantly purple/green color palette is an interesting choice, but it works. Well done, IMAX Toy Story 4 designer!

Lastly, I like this poster for Jim Jarmusch's arthouse zombie film The Dead Don't Die. It's incredibly simple, but effective. In particular I love the blue tint with the red fill light at the right, and as a graphic designer I'm a sucker for hand-drawn fonts. Great job!