Movie Poster Collecting

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Michael Crawford

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Okay, we have plenty of people spending big bucks on blus, but I know there must be others out there that also collect movie posters - I'm talking about the actual advertising, not something like the Alamo, although those can be interesting as well.

I've been collecting actively for about 15 years, although there were some breaks in there were I stopped buying for several months at a time. I currently have just shy of 700 posters, and I just went through a massive effort of pulling them all out of my old storage method - rolled in tubes based on theme - and moved them to a much better solution. I'm using a over priced big cardboard box that's designed for storing blueprints. The posters are held in what amounts to huge file folders, so they sit flat on their side. It's actually an expensive solution (they way overcharge for the box and folders), but it does work really well and keeps them far safer in a much smaller space. They're easier to retrieve as well.

I have two posters up all the time in my bar, both back lit, and these I regularly rotate. Right now I have Cowboys and Aliens up as well as the Adjustment Bureau.

I also have two - going on four - that are always framed in the hallway. Right now, that's my original Back to the Future and my original The Thing. I plan on adding two more at least, but I want them to be the best of the best, and I haven't quite decided what else to add to those two.

I try not to buy too many these days, but I still end up snagging at least 4 or 5 a month. I pick them based on image, which is a bit different than in the past. In my old house, I displayed not two but six posters that I regularly rotated, so I did that by theme, and I'd often buy a poster because it fit a theme rather than because of the image. With only two up now, and with the simple fact that when I went through my collection and cataloged it all as I stuck it in it's new box, I found many - MANY - that I have no idea why I bought. I'll be selling a lot in the coming months on the cheap, that's for sure.

Anyway, back to my buying habits. I stick with cool images for the most part, although occasionally the movie itself may effect my decision. For example, recent adds are the two I already mentioned above, along with Cars 2, Apollo 18, and Battle L.A. I really, really wish I'd grabbed the original Black Swan poster when it first hit, not because I have all that much love for the movie (I haven't seen it yet), but that stark face on the white background is just damn cool.

So for you advertising poster collectors out there, what drives your buys? What are you loving and hating right now? And what are you trying to find?
 
I just bought a new house and have a basement to turn into a figure room and home theatre. In the home theatre, I am planning on putting up 4-6 movie posters, framed, either with back light, or a light above them.

I'm trying to balance posters from movies that I love with posters that actually look good. The ones I have so far are:

Robocop, Blade Runner, The Dark Knight (don't love this poster, but the movie is too good to ignore), Alien. The other two posters are going to be from films my wife loves. Luckily she doesn't like anything in the realm of Sex in the City, so my theatre won't be tarnished. :lol

I'm trying to find a good poster for the movie "Brazil", one of my favorite movies of all time, but they either look terrible, or are in terrible condition.

They are all 27 by 40, and I try to get the ones that have the image on both sides, so if I choose to backlight it, it will look good.

700 posters!! That's insane!
 
Robocop, Blade Runner and Aliens - are those originals? Man, I'd love to have originals of those myself...damn, I wish I was collecting them in the 80's.
 
I have an original 1978 Dawn of the Dead movie poster (red version) framed in the staircase leading down to my basement. It's been autographed by three of the film's stars, plus George A. Romero himself, so that one's on permanent display.

The rest are simply rolled up in tubes in storage. If I ever have a dedicated home theater instead of just a rec room, then I might do something with them.
 
Robocop, Blade Runner and Aliens - are those originals? Man, I'd love to have originals of those myself...damn, I wish I was collecting them in the 80's.

No not originals, but I put less importance if they are original or not. As long as they look like the originals, that is good enough for me.
 
Back in 86 I worked at Sam Goody's and we would get the pre-movie posters. my Favourite was from the original batman, this one didn't have any of the actors names or writing just the batman chest symbol, plus I had all multiple ahnuld schwarzenegger posters Terminator was my fav out of them. I had a little over 60 when I sold them to a poster shop in New York. they were huge!
 
Which TDK poster do you have Reinhart?

The-Dark-Knight-Posters-batman-1231135_323_480.jpg
 
All I have is this one and I'm not sure as to why I even bought it. Mine has never been folded though:

point_break_ver1.jpg
 
I was collecting movie posters before anything else. I started when I was an usher in the movie theaters back in the 80s. I have over 700 total, although a lot of them are crap titles from the 80s, I also have some great ones. Right now on display are original Star Wars, Raiders, just spent big bucks to frame a Rocketeer, have Pulp Fiction and Luhrman's Romeo & Juliet above the couch and Branagh's Henry V in the stairwell.

I'm still trying to figure out where to put my lenticular Lost World - the light box is big and heavy and I don't have much wall space.

Originals are the only way to go - I know that the repros look the same, but I could never frame them and hang them. As a collector they have to be unavailable to the public.

My most prized are probably the Lost World (as an early lenticular and as a cool dinosaur poster it's very impressive), original Superman, ET, SW, Rocketeer, Star Trek: TMP (although mine's folded - I really want a rolled one). And a one sheet sized poster for Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Once More with Feeling (by Adam Hughes) - I've never seen these for sale, although the smaller ones come up all the time.
 
All I have is the "Why so serious" joker one.. my friend who worked as a usher got it for me.. so I know its legit.. however i've been thinking about getting some on ebay but not sure of the authenticity of the posters... anyway to know forsure?
 
Pretty easy - double sided these days are generally legit. The process, while not as expensive as say, 30 years ago, is still pretty expensive. They also are always 27x40 these days.

Older single sided posters are pretty easy to tell too - if they are 27x41, had an NSS number on the bottom corner, and usually (although not always) have a white border, odds are they are original.

Wow, Dave - that's some mighty sweet stuff there!
 
So when you say originals, do you mean what was released originally when the movie came out? So for Alien, what came out in 1979, or a reprint that is currently available (27x40 double sided)?
 
I've always wanted an original Star Wars poster, but the price scares me away. Then you also have to worry about bootleg versions. :gah:
 
I've always wanted an original Star Wars poster, but the price scares me away. Then you also have to worry about bootleg versions. :gah:

Me too, and with the originals being folded it is so hard to find one in decent condition (much less the price once you find one).
 
So when you say originals, do you mean what was released originally when the movie came out? So for Alien, what came out in 1979, or a reprint that is currently available (27x40 double sided)?

I haven't seen ant 'reprint' alien posters that are ds and 27x40, but yea when you say 'original' it means released when the movie was . There are some ds alien/aliens posters that came out when the films were re-released to theaters, but technically those are 'originals' for that release. Yea, it can be confusing.
 
I would probably buy more if I had the space to display them.

But I have this (reprint)...

mp_big_abovethelaw1.jpg
 
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