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Thoughts on Star Wars Posters

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TFA’s poster is a mess. Too many people crammed into a small space.

I vastly prefer the SE posters to the originals for the same reason I call the first film A New Hope; it feels much more unified.

The Prequel posters are fine. Nothing groundbreaking, but they do a good job.

TLJ has a fantastic poster, taking full advantage of the stunning visuals of Crait, while positioning Luke, Kylo, and Rey brilliantly.

Do not DM me for edits. Whatever you’re looking for I don’t have it.

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The TLJ teaser poster and Dolby Cinema poster are the best SW posters since the Struzan “Revenge of the Jedi” teaser.

I’ve seen tons of fan TFA posters that I like much better than any of the official ones. The “main” one-sheet is horrible, as you say, and I was very much let down by Struzan’s D23 poster.

Struzan’s prequel posters are pretty good (AOTC is probably the best of the three, which is funny because it’s far and away the worst movie of the saga). The SE posters work okay as a triptych but I dislike them as individual posters since all three of them get something wrong (ESB Leia on the SW poster, ROTJ Emperor and Vader’s ANH TIE on the ESB poster, and the ESB Cloud City Luke/Vader duel on the ROTJ poster).

Rogue One’s posters are all very generic, though I think there was one or two I didn’t mind. Solo’s posters mostly have a nice, pulpy feel to them, but I’m not too familiar with them as I kind of wrote off the movie during its marketing push.

Hoping Abrams goes with something more “classic” with IX than he did with TFA.

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I quite like the TFA poster to be honest (and I think there’s a less ‘crammed’ version on the DVD), and you’re absolutely right about the TLJ one.

With the prequels, I loved the AOTC poster that had Anakin and Padme back to back (with words to the effect of ‘a Jedi shall not know anger or love’). I thought that was really effective.

I’m a total sucker for the original OT posters. That first Star Wars poster with Conan-Luke and the 8000 X-Wings just takes me right back to how the film felt for me as a wide-eyed 8 year-old in '77. I know it looks like hokey Frazetta art now, but it’s just a precious moment in time that should absolutely be adorning unaltered blurays of the OT. Similarly the ‘Gone with the Wind’ 1980 TESB poster evokes a similar feeling in me.

Finally I love the teaser ‘Revenge of the Jedi’ poster that hinted at a great movie that was sadly never made…

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Most of the contemporary OT posters are fantastic and some of my all time favorites. The SE posters are crap and some of Struzan’s worst. Whereas his prequel posters are actually some of his best (I agree that AOTC is probably at the top too).

The TLJ posters are pretty much uniformly excellent and I’m not sure I can think of one I didn’t like. On the other hand, I’m not sure I can think of a single official TFA poster I genuinely liked.

Rogue One’s were pretty much fine, and I really dug everything I saw for Solo.

Here’s hoping we get some good stuff for IX.

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Of course I agree the SE posters are flawed, I just think they’re still an improvement over the originals.

And btw, Screams, that poster you linked to is incredible.

Do not DM me for edits. Whatever you’re looking for I don’t have it.

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thank you , I think so too ,and I would not call the Special Edition Struzan Posters crap , regardless of the mixed up photo references . They are very good compositions and all three together make a nice triptych that encapsulate the spirit of the whole original trilogy . It is also a design concept he carried over to the prequel posters . I like the Phantom Menace poster best out of the prequel posters , the Attack Of The Clones poster is ok in my opinion and I found the Revenge Of The Sith poster underwhelming . All are drawn well but I prefer the Revenge Of The Sith Video Game poster …https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462553/ to me , it seems more epic and dynamic .I do prefer the original OT posters over the special edition though , the ones represented on the original vhs releases .

https://screamsinthevoid.deviantart.com/

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RotS does indeed have a very boring poster.

Do not DM me for edits. Whatever you’re looking for I don’t have it.

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‘An unseen archive of movie poster artwork is being published’:-

https://lwlies.com/articles/the-feref-collection-movie-poster-archive-star-wars (mainly Star Wars posters)
 

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^^^ enough said.

I’m glad this thread was boosted, I love obsessing over posters.

Mocata said:

Noriyoshi Ohrai or bust

What is it with Japanese poster/cover illustrations for Star Wars being so good? This regards book covers rather than posters, but I don’t know where else to rant about it, so - the artwork of Tsuyoshi Nagano is infinitely better than the digital composite artwork for Star Wars books around the early 2000s. It’s such a shame his covers aren’t mainstream, and are instead confined to Japanese editions of the novels. I’m seriously considering visiting Japan one day even if for nothing else than just hunting for Japanese SW books.

I wanted to include images, but be warned they do take up quite a bit of space.

Not one of my favourites from his work, but for example: ‘Balance Point’ by Kathy Tyers…


Cover art by Cliff Nielsen, no harm to him

vs cover art by Nagano.

‘Labyrinth of Evil’ by Matthew Stover, with cover art by Steven D Anderson - again, not bad artwork -

vs cover art by Nagano.

This isn’t an unpopular opinion, but painted posters will always outshine digital image composites. They have more heart, look more exciting, and are more reminiscent of the great original trilogy posters. I know bugger all about publishing, but I really hope that if there’s a reprinting of the New Jedi Order series, they’ll use the Japanese edition artwork. A fool’s hope!

“Remember, the Force will be with you. Always.”

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oojason said:

‘An unseen archive of movie poster artwork is being published’:-

https://lwlies.com/articles/the-feref-collection-movie-poster-archive-star-wars (mainly Star Wars posters)
 

^ awesome find ! Interesting look into the process , especially how a lot of the artists kept trying to emulate the design elements of the posters for SW77 . I have seen a color comp of the fourth one down online before though .

https://screamsinthevoid.deviantart.com/

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That last one’s kind of art deco.

Do not DM me for edits. Whatever you’re looking for I don’t have it.

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jedi_bendu said:

What is it with Japanese poster/cover illustrations for Star Wars being so good? This regards book covers rather than posters, but I don’t know where else to rant about it, so - the artwork of Tsuyoshi Nagano is infinitely better than the digital composite artwork for Star Wars books around the early 2000s. It’s such a shame his covers aren’t mainstream, and are instead confined to Japanese editions of the novels. I’m seriously considering visiting Japan one day even if for nothing else than just hunting for Japanese SW books.

So would I, if I could.

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I like the classic posters for the first 3 films. Including the 76 poster by Howard Chaykin.

Be nice to be able to afford originals, not reprints someday. They are scarce and expensive. Far far too many repros and bootlegs.

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I love all the Star Wars posters, but The Last Jedi may be my favorite of the bunch. That poster for season 2 of the Mandalorian posted above is pretty strong too.

Imgur

The Last Jedi:

Imgur

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All the marketing for The Last Jedi was absolutely stellar. The visuals of the movie itself certainly lived up to the expectations set by the posters, too.

“Remember, the Force will be with you. Always.”

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The original posters for Star Wars are my jam. The prequels I kinda just shrug at

I’m just a simple man trying to make my way in the universe.

Star Wars has 3 eras: The eras are 1977-1983(pre Expanded Universe), (1983-2014) expanded universe, or (2014- now) Disney-bought version. Each are valid.

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