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Movie Posters Movie Posters
By Amanda Sheriff, Gemstone Publishing

Collecting Trends and the Current Market

Dracula style F one-sheet (photo courtesy Heritage Auctions) Some Like It Hot one-sheet (photo courtesy Heritage Auctions) Halloween one-sheet (photo courtesy Heritage Auctions)

ollecting movie posters is plain and the weight of promoting films. As such, a
simply a fun hobby that expresses lot of care and thought went into their
Cthe love for a film and appreciation design, which makes them among the most
for art. From an advertising standpoint, desirable to poster collectors.
they are meant to capture the story and
tone of a movie with one artistic statement. The Classics
They are designed to attract viewers, to Casablanca posters reflect the doomed
stop theater patrons in their tracks to romance and political intrigue of the film,
observe and imagine what exciting tale and the large format posters like the US six-
awaits in the film it advertises. It is those sheet and Italian “four-fogli” sell for
very factors—the pull to adventure, $400,000-500,000. On the Citizen Kane
romance, thrills, and laughs—and the one-sheet, the lead character looms larger
opportunity to capture that feeling for than life, achieving prices of $20,000-
more than 120 minutes that turns film fans 50,000. Metropolis, an early example of
into movie poster collectors. science fiction, has seen the 1928
Australian daybill realize $215,000. The
Collecting Across Time mystery crackles on the one-sheet for film
Building a movie poster collection is noir classic The Maltese Falcon, averaging
easy because there is a myriad of movie $20,000, while the six-sheet can go for
poster options to choose from that span $250,000. The Public Enemy one-sheet
over 100 years of film. Posters show off The Maltese Falcon six-sheet poignantly contrasts the colors and shadow,
many styles of expression with pops of selling for north of $170,000. The sweeping
(photo courtesy Heritage Auctions)
bright color or intentionally muted drama of Gone with the Wind is reflected in
displays, creative renderings, or simple the one-sheet that sells for $20,000.
portraits. But even the ones that lack such style and panache are
desirable to the person who enjoys the movie. And like the different The Horror
levels of artistry displayed on posters, their prices in the secondary Universal’s slate of early horror films can also be counted on to scare
market vary from a few dollars to the mid-six figures. up impressive prices. Harder to find, they display striking artwork of
The Golden Age of Hollywood, that period of early film where menacing monsters and their frightened prey. The one-sheets for
glamour and great dialogue reigned, was a time of beautiful poster art. movies like Dracula, Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein, The Black
In the days before movie trailers were easily accessible, the posters bore
Cat, and The Invisible Man can achieve $250,000-$500,000 in sales.
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