What to look for to determine an original poster
Determining whether a movie poster is an original or not is a tricky business. There are many different criteria to measure a movie poster's originality, and they are all different for different types of poster.
And there are even vastly different types of movie poster! Whether this is big vintage classics from the 1930s, cult horror films from the 1970s to modern-day blockbusters.
This can all seem a little daunting, but this article will take you through some of the simple steps you can take when authenticating whether a movie poster is original and therefore valuable.
One of the first things to consider when determining whether a movie poster is original is to see whether it is double-sided. Given the continued rise of lightboxes in cinema advertising since 1990, printing companies have begun to produce film posters with lighter mirror images of the poster image on the reverse side.
These are expensive to produce and are therefore not that common. So if the poster you are looking to buy is double-sided, the odds are that it is an original. However, you should always be careful. In recent years there has been a rise in the sale of fake double-sided rolled posters for Spider-Man, The Dark Knight and The Matrix.
The next thing to consider is the size of the poster you are thinking of buying. There has always been a great standardisation of movie poster sizes, and you should familiarise yourself with the standards of different eras.
Before 1990, for example, one-sheet movie posters from the United States for famous films such as Star Wars or Indiana Jones measured 27X41 inches; while since 1990, these related dimensions have changed to 27X40 inches.
These measurements are not always exact, but the difference margin should be within 1/4 of an inch. Fakes and reprints are often smaller, some by entire inches than the originals. Therefore you should always check the size of the rolled poster you consider to make sure that it is original.
It would be best if you also considered the text displayed on the movie poster. This goes for the giant title letters as well as the small print. Originally printed lithographic posters always have sharp lettering that is crystal clear with no fuzzy edges. In contrast, reproductions or fakes printed digitally often have fuzzy lettering due to the technology being used.
Many older posters will also have a tiny union logo somewhere at the bottom. Again, much like the lettering, this logo will be crystal clear from the printing process. These logos are for lithographer's unions and will have initials such as 'GAU' or 'LPIU'. If you happen to find a rolled movie poster with one of these logos present, without any fuzzy edges, then you've got yourself an original print.
You can also do this when buying original movie posters to only buy from reputable auction houses or movie poster dealers and sellers. This way, you can continue to be sure that the pieces for sale have been authenticated or have come from legitimate film industry sources. Many dealers will buy their rolled posters directly from movie theatres, and some studios or printing companies will run a select amount of posters to sell directly to these dealers. Therefore, by buying from these reputable vendors, you can be sure that purchasing is the real deal.
The final check you can do to see whether the movie poster you are buying is original is to look at the paper's condition. Lithographers use acidic paper when printing an original movie poster. This acid tans the paper over time, turning it ever-so-slightly brown. Therefore you should avoid any posters that claim to be original in crisp, minty white condition.
What is a Fake movie poster?
Deciding whether a movie poster is a fake is a complicated determination to make. We have looked at how you would tell whether a poster is original and that there are distinct markers to look for when deciding this, but fakes are a whole other kettle of fish. Given that the movie poster industry is unique, making the collection of their posters an equally unique hobby, there are multiple circumstances where a movie poster may not be original or a fake, but something else entirely.
Movie posters are not the only promotional materials produced by film companies to advertise their movies. Since the 1920s, studios have offered bespoke advertising materials to theatres for specific pictures that include horizontal one-sheets, three-sheets and handpainted plywood designs. Additionally, some avant-garde theatre owners did not want to use the materials sent to them by the studios. Instead, they hired artists to produce their own promotional art, making for even rarer movie posters.
Some theatres even chose to hire independent advertisers to help with their movie posters rather than rely solely on what the National Screen Service had to offer. This led to different promotional materials and art being produced, all using different techniques and materials. And while these items can not be considered original movie posters, neither can they be considered fakes.
You can begin to see the problem.
But the confusion doesn't stop there. While the theatres may have produced their own independent advertising materials, the studios also produce rolled posters issued for a movie that can not be considered originals.
Studios distribute reprints, reissues, commercial posters, lobby cards, advertising stills and many more products and artworks to advertise their films. While these pieces come from the production companies themselves and may even look like movie posters, you can not put these posters into either the original release poster or fake poster categories.
There are also common problems in modern industry to take into account. Overproduction is common in nearly every sector of the economy that deals with consumer items. To win commercial contracts, companies will offer their services at a discount rate.
With this in mind, they will have other entities to help pay for any overproduction when they allow the presses to keep rolling. This presents even more problems for the original poster collector. While collectors might not consider these overproduction pieces as articles from the initial batch of posters distributed to theatres, they are still produced in the same way and to the same standards.
We find posters that might not be considered truly original, in the sense that they were only ever meant to be used as advertising materials in cinemas, but are still of the same quality and not fakes.
While the previously mentioned considerations can make original film poster collecting seem very difficult, you can follow a simple rule when keeping your eye out for fakes.
Ultimately, a fake movie poster is produced to imitate an original piece sold at auctions under the pretence of originality.
These are the genuine fakes; posters created to look like the real thing to trick collectors into thinking they are original at auction. These fakes are not valuable at all, and you should avoid them at all costs.
Original Vintage Movie Posters for Sale
We created this website to provide a vintage movie poster guide. If you have an interest in classic movie posters from the 1950s, 1960s or 1980s, we hope you will learn more about the most popular posters of the period.
Take a sneak peak at some of the posters we have in stock here. However, if you have a film in mind and don't see it here, please get in touch as we'd be happy to locate it for you.
Are you interested in movie poster collecting? Follow the links below to discover more about collectable movie posters.