Movie poster

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Movie posters are posters used to advertise films. Their use goes back to the earliest public exhibitions of film, where they began as outside placards listing the programme of (short) films to be shown inside the hall or theater. By the early 1900s, they began to feature illustrations of a scene from each individual film.

Currently, due to a film's short theatrical life, posters are issued in small print runs and are discarded when the films run finished. However, historically, large runs for most titles, stored in production company or advertising agency warehouses, or individual items kept as souvenirs by theater owners, allowed posters from the classical and modern film periods, and early postmodern period, to survive in at least a few numbers.

Movie posters come in different sizes and styles depending on the country. The most common are listed below.

United States:

One sheet, 27 inches by 41 inches, portrait format
Display (aka Half-sheet), 22 inches by 28 inches, landscape format
Insert, size 14 inches by 36 inches, portrait format
Window Card, 14 inches by 22 inches, portrait format
Three sheet, 41 inches by 81 inches, portrait format
Six sheet, 81 inches by 81 inches, portrait format
Twenty four sheet, 246 inches by 108 inches, landscape format often called a billboard

Most sizes (other than the one sheet) have fallen out of favor with film distributors, and are rarely used nowadays.

United Kingdom:

Quad, size 30 inches by 40 inches, landscape format
Double crown, size 20 inches by 30 inches, portrait format
One-sheet, size 27 inches by 40 inches, portrait format
Three sheet, size 40 inches by 81 inches portrait format

Australia:

Daybill, size 30 inches by 13 inches, portrait format
One sheet, size 27 inches by 40 inches, portrait format

Notable film poster artists include Saul Bass, Drew Struzan, Peter Strausfield and Bob Peak.

Lobby cards are like posters but smaller, usually 11" X 14" (but also 8" x 10" before 1930). Lobby Cards are collected and their value depends on their age, quality and popularity. Typically issued in sets of 8, each featuring a different scene from the film.

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