As time progresses, things can change. While much of popular culture has not seen many drastic changes, there have been subtle, slight changes here and there. When it comes to the world of the movie poster, there has been a change that many lament over.

Today, a movie poster is usually a photographic reproduction of an image from the film. In the grand old days of the cinema, from the silent era into the early 1980s, a movie poster was commonly created by the utilization of poster art that was drawn in a manner that depicted a scene or imagery from the film.

Where Did All the Poster Art Go?

In a magazine that will remain nameless, a letter to the editor posed the question “Why was there a decision to replace original movie poster art with photographic reproductions?” The erudite response from the editor was, “They got rid of them because they were dumb.” Sigh.

While there have been some fantastic photographic reproductions of movie posters, the decision to totally drop or greatly diminish original artwork was not a good decision. Look at the classic artwork from JAWS of the shark coming up from underneath the girl swimming on the ocean surface.

Yes, this could have been easily replicated via a series of photographs made into a composite image, but would that have been as visually effective? There are a ton of subtle nuances in the famous JAWS movie poster that could never be duplicated photographically, such as the amazing detail of the shark’s image itself.

So why was a conscious effort made to cease the use of original movie poster artwork? Perhaps it was a misjudged attempt at modernization. In the early days of the cinema, artwork was the only viable way to make a movie poster, as photo composites would have been very difficult to produce. Still photos would be used significantly, however, as mini lobby cards that would be prominently displayed throughout a theater.

When the ability to make digitally and computer enhanced photos in movie poster reproductions came about, movie poster art was dropped down a black hole and into the dustbin of history.

Yes, there is the occasional use of artwork on movie posters these days, but it is in a significantly lesser amount than photographs. So, if one wishes to enjoy this kind of artwork, one needs to purchase reproductions (or originals) of the classic posters. Come to think of it, that’s not a bad idea.