Monday, September 3, 2007

US "Titanic" One-sheet Movie Posters

There are 11 basic varieties of US Titanic movie posters, with four basic designs. A printing error made a revision necessary after the first run of posters; in addition to the distinctions of design styles and the domestic and international issues, we have a distinction to make between the revised and non-revised posters.

The posters were revised to include the name of the actress Gloria Stuart in the credits, left out in the first print run. This change is not obvious; owners of original Titanic posters may not know if they have revised or unrevised versions.

Not Revised (Style A domestic)



Revised (Style A international)



The revised posters show "Gloria Stuart" between the names "Danny Nucci" and "David Warner" on the second row of credits.

The distinction between the domestic and international varieties is made with most US posters; it is usually indicated in the fine print at the bottom of the poster. International Titanic posters have a notation printed with tiny letters in the lower left corner:



The advance poster had no credits and was thus never revised. The Academy Awards poster was made after the credits mistake had been corrected; it did not need revision.

The 4 Basic Designs of US Titanic Posters


The Advance one-sheet (no credits, no revisions)



Style A one-sheet (four types: domestic unrevised, domestic revised, international unrevised, international revised) This one was also issued as a high gloss single-sided premiere poster.



Style B one-sheet (four types: domestic unrevised, domestic revised, international unrevised, international revised)



Style B one-sheet blue credits reprint (not revised).



I have some questions about this strange poster with the blue credits. It measures 26.5" x 38.5" and is single-sided. We think it is a reprint, but of what? Is there an original Style B with blue credits? I haven't seen one, but to reprint something you have to begin with an original. I'd love to see one of those!



Academy Awards one-sheet (domestic and international only, no revisions)



This summary may be incomplete; if revisions are needed please advise! Thanks to Roy Simperman for the idea. :)


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2 comments:

ledfrog.com said...

I have a copy of the "strange" blue text poster. From what I've heard, it is most certainly a reprint, but it's also been reported that it's a bootleg reprint and the use of blue ink was a way to reduce costs as compared to using gold ink.

I have no way of verifying this and I couldn't believe that the cost of ink could be that big of a deal, but that's the only explanation I've gotten so far!

ledfrog.com said...

Someone said somewhere that the international poster with the blue text was done because the original posters all use a gold ink and gold ink is super expensive. A poster printer trying to save money might use a cheaper ink to reprint posters. I have no way to verify this, but it's a possibility!