Source link : https://las-vegas-news.com/the-stories-behind-8-famous-movie-posters/
A movie poster has a few seconds to do its job. It has to suggest a mood, a genre and a promise, all on a sheet of paper that someone walks past on the way to buy popcorn.
The eight posters below each took a different route to get there. Some came from painters working to tight deadlines. One started life on a paperback, and another borrowed a surrealist’s photograph.
Jaws (1975): A Paperback Painting Becomes a Film Icon
The image of a huge shark rising toward a lone swimmer started as book cover art. Illustrator Roger Kastel painted it for the paperback edition of Peter Benchley’s novel.
Universal liked the composition enough to carry it over to the film’s advertising with only small adjustments. The shark is enormous, the swimmer is tiny, and the water is flat. Nothing on the poster shows the attack itself, which is probably why it still unsettles people.
Star Wars (1977): Two Artists, Two Different Visions
The first Star Wars campaign didn’t rely on a single poster. Tom Jung painted an early version that showed Luke Skywalker with his lightsaber raised above a crowd of characters.
Soon afterward, the brothers Greg and Tim Hildebrandt painted a second version that became just as recognizable. It put a large, looming Darth Vader in the background behind the heroes. Fans still debate which version…
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Author : Matthias Binder
Publish date : 2026-10-14 11:11:00
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