American Film Posters

American film posters are know for its blockbuster films. Meaning the posters have a big impact on the audience. I want to look at examples of these BIG film posters and see if there are any recuring themes or layouts.





1920s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
A silent horror film produced by Famous Players- Lasky and released thorugh Paramount. The film is based upon Robert Louis Stevensons novel, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and starring actor John Barrymore.















1931, Alice In Wonderland
A independently black and white american film based  on Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, directed by Bud Pollard, produced by Hugo Maienthau and filmed at Metropolitan Studios.











1940s The Invisible Woman
An american science fiction comedy film. A third in the series of films, The Invisible man and The Invisible Man Returns which was released earlier in the year. Directed by A. Edward Sutherland and produced by Burt Kelly.












1950s The Yellow Cab Man
A comedy film, directed by Jack Donohue staring Red Skelton, Gloria DeHaven and Edward Arnold. A brief sequence of distorted visual effects in the film is by photographer Weegee.













1960s Exodus
an epic war film, made by Alpha and Carlyle Productions and distributed by United Artits. Produced and directed by Otto Preminger, the film was based on the 1958 novel Exodus by Leon Uris. 














1970s The Rebel Rousers
an independent outlaw biker film, starring Cameron Mitchell, Jack Nicholson, Diane Ladd, Bruce Dern and Harry Dean Stanton. Filmed in 1967 but held back until released in 1970.















1980s Airplane!
an american satricual comedy film directed and written by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker, and released by Paramount Pictures. It stars Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty.
















1990's Home Alone
An american christmas family comedy film written and produced by John Hughes and directed by Chris Columbus. The film stars Macaulay Culkin, Catherine O'Hara and John Heard.

















2000's Charlies Angels
An american action comedy film directed by McD, starring Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Lui. The film was based on a television series of the same name, from the late 70s.













2010s Twilight Sage: Eclipse
an american romantic fantasy film based on Stephenie Meyer's 2007 novel, Eclipse. The third installment of the Twilight Sage series. Starring, Kristen Stewart, Robert Patterson and Taylor Lautner.










You can see that the film poster lay out does not really change that much. A big image in the centre. Text just lower and the staring names at the bottom. Though early on, the names were a lot more important than the film. The introduction of photographs of the cast has stuck through out the development of poster design, the images getting larger than before, and becoming the poster, with the names becoming smaller so that the title of the film is one again at the top of the hierarchy.