France Gets Me Best

Let’s get this out of the way first. Yes, it’s purple. A very, very bright purple. Surely that is not for everybody.

And yet I think it’s probably the best poster I have seen for Sex and the City. It’s essentially a re-edition of the first teaser poster, but with all the women and not just SJP. Which is not great for a likely final poster, but is still fine.

The image is flashy, catchy and glamorous, for a certain definition of glamorous. The ladies are are kind of small in the pic, but at least they don’t look awful. Very purple, but not awful. And big, bright shiny lights might be a bit cheesy, but at least they make this seem like an event. Like something too big for a small screen. Which is basically what is needed in order to make the final sell that this is important enough to see in the theaters.

And yes, most of these things were already true of the first poster, so we haven’t exactly come a long way. But the addition of the rest of the ladies does make it sensibly better, and after the last few posters I’m ready to settle for this.

By the way, interesting that this is the second international poster the features the four main characters, while the domestic posters focused on SJP, isn’t it?

(Thanks to Casty the Clown for sending this over)

Germany Gets Me

This German poster is basically just like the two last posters, but it features all the Sex and the City women.

As it’s been pointed out to me, Carrie is indeed the main star of the show. But honestly, for me it would be nothing without the others. So I like this poster a lot more, even if it’s the design isn’t particularly inspiring.

*Update*

This post feels too light. In order to make up for that let me point you people to Glenn’s much more in depth (and quite funny) review of the poster.

(Via PosterGeek, thanks to Casty the Clown for helping me to find it)

New Sex and the City Movie Posters

These two new Sex and the City posters are mostly unremarkable. Carrie walking the streets of NY, looking stylish. Probably gets at part of the core appeal of the franchise, but seems less effective, and a lot less visually appealing, than the first teaser poster.

But what I do find interesting is that once again the posters only feature Sarah Jessica Parker. Now, I’m neither the target audience for the film nor the biggest fan of the series, but I always believed that the friendship between the four main characters, and their different perspectives on life, were a huge part of the show’s appeal. It never felt like show that starred SJP and co-starred the other three.

So when the first teaser came out I thought it was understandable that they were using SJP, since she is the best known name in the cast and the only one that has made some sort of successful transition to movies. But I thought that the initial poster would be quickly followed by others featuring the other cast members and maybe even something with all of them, hitting the point that this isn’t just another SJP movie, it’s the reunion of Sex and the City. But so far it hasn’t happened, the poster campaign has only focused on Parker. And the movie opens May 30, not a lot of time left.

I wonder what is the thinking behind this decision.

(Via CinemaBlend)

P.S. I Love You Posters – Domestic Vs. French

(click for a larger version)

It’s not just the big blockbusters that get multiple posters. Here, for example, is the domestic poster and the one used in France for P.S. I Love You.

The domestic version (which was also used in several other countries, by the way) goes with a very sweet image of Butler and Swank together. That combined with the title makes for a poster so saccharine it might actually give you a cavity just from looking at it.

And yet, I sort of like it. It’s a very straight sell that sets up the film as being just through and through romance.

The French poster, on the other hand, goes with a much more bittersweet image. The sunset, Swank sitting alone in bench, the notes her dead husband left her flowing in the wind… there is a lot of sadness to be found in here. There are still some romantic elements in there, but this poster seems much more aware of the fact that the story involves the character of Butler dying in the beginning of the film. And it sets the film as a possibly heartbreaking experience.

Now, the French poster is much more appealing to me, but I also admire the complete lack of cynicism in the domestic version. In the end think they are both good posters that try to sell the movie in two very different fashions.

(Thanks to reader Casty The Clown for the French poster)

Priceless Poster

(click for a larger version)

And here is a new poster for the French comedy Priceless, which is, according to the official synopsys, “a fresh re-imagining of the cinema classic, BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S.”

I find the idea of “re-imagining” Breakfast at Tiffanny’s highly iffy. Not that another great movie can’t be made from that premise, but just the fact that they are hitting the connection so hard on the selling of the film gives me a bad vibe. How close will this re-imagining be to the original? We certainly don’t need a remake of BT.

And this poster does nothing to assuage me. Compare it, if you will, to the poster for the original.

The main intent of the new poster is obviously to set up Audrey Tautou as the second coming of Audrey Hepburn. But Tautou, as much as I love her, is not Hepburn. And this is not a good photo for this film. Tautou looks too demure, too shy. She lacks the confident charm that exudes from Hepburn in the poster for the original. Well, that exudes from the drawing of her, but you get my point.

Tautou looks very different in the original French poster.

In here she looks more confident, more in control of the situation. And has a slightly mischievous look in her eyes that is quite interesting.

The French poster also shows us the relationship at the center of the film, which the U.S. poster doesn’t do at all.

And the arms bringing assorted jewelry? They make the concept of her being around rich men quite clear, but it does so in a very inelegant away. This furthers positions the film as lacking the charm and class of the original.

And all of that doesn’t even enter into the poster’s other major problem: It’s rather ugly.

I don’t like this one at all.

Happy Valentine's Day

Kurt has a post over at RowThree talking about The Rules of Attraction which features a pic of the poster above. I had never actually seen that version of the poster before, but it’s too perfect as a Valentines Day’s poster for me not to showcase it here too.

And the movie, by the way, is equally romantic.

Happy Valentine’s Day

Kurt has a post over at RowThree talking about The Rules of Attraction which features a pic of the poster above. I had never actually seen that version of the poster before, but it’s too perfect as a Valentines Day’s poster for me not to showcase it here too.

And the movie, by the way, is equally romantic.

Leatherhead Posters

Ok, take a good look at this poster. We have George Clooney and that guy from The Office, plus a bunch of other dudes. All of them wearing some very old football gear and sporting really funny facial expressions. So I’m thinking this is a somewhat broad comedy/farce revolving around the early days of football. Then I read the tagline, which makes all that I just said very obvious.

Looks good. Probably will have a few laughs. The historic setting makes me think this won’t be a typical comedy, but something a little smarter, with perhaps a little throwback to old time movie comedies. A football comedy probably won’t appeal to the ladies very much, but hopefully Clooney’s presence will solve that.

Now let’s look at this other poster.

Hmm. A romantic comedy with George Clooney and Renée Zellweger. Looks like it will have a lot of … romance. The image has a bunch of colored lights and is very soft. Kind of girly really. But Clooney is so cool and smooth, he should be able to add some guy appeal to this. It also seems like a period piece. It will probably be very classy. Yeah, sure, I’m kind of interested.

What is that you say? Both of these posters are for the same movie? Surely you kid?

When Chris from Movie Marketing Madness wrote about the first poster he noticed the absence of Zellweger and wondered whether we were going to see a two-pronged campaign, one focusing on the football and one focusing on the romance. He thinks this new poster shows that that is the case. Perhaps, although I should note that the second poster appeared in Empire, a British publication. So maybe they will focus more on the romance on the other side of the Atlantic, while focusing on the football in the US.

Either way, the truth is that they have three main elements they can use to sell this movie: early football comedy, romance and George Clooney. But they haven’t found a way to sell all of those things together in a single coherent message. So instead they came up with two posters that are so different they make the movie seem schizophrenic.

(Posters via ComingSoon and Empire)

Sex and the City Movie Poster

One of the things that you have to do whenever you have a film that is based on a TV series is to convince people that this is more than simply an extra long episode and that the movie really is worth the trip to the theater. And I think that’s a bit of what they are trying to do with the big, shiny letters against the black background. It screams “This is an event! It will be bigger and more glamorous than the TV version! You must be there!”

But even if that is not enough to really make the movie seem different than the series, the poster still should be successful in getting the Sex and the City audience interested in the film, as it signals that the movie will have many of the things that made the show interesting. The glamor, the glitz, the fashion, the class, the fun. Missing is the friendship between the ladies, but that is harder to convey in a poster and I understand their choice to go for a more clean image that doesn’t hit on it. And since the film only opens in may it’s quite possible that we will get posters featuring the other main characters and highlighting their comradery later on.

I also like the combination of the bright pink with the black background. It fits with the shows aesthetic and it’s distinctive enough and loud enough to get attention. And, as a bonus, it looks good.

Overall I think it’s a fine poster for this particular movie, as long as they are not interested in reaching a much broader audience than they used to reach with the show.

(Via Yahoo Movies)

Made of Honor Poster

So, here is the deal: you either find the idea of Patrick Dempsey as a maid of honor hilarious or you don’t. No poster is going to make you want to see this movie if that basic premise doesn’t appeal to you. At least no poster that is at all honest about the film’s content.

Considering that constraint I think the poster does a fine job of selling the movie. The film’s concept is conveyed quite clearly, Dempsey looks good stands out nicely in the poster, and we even get a little bit of Michelle Monaghan, which is always nice. I’m not sure how wise it is to center a marketing campaign on Dempsey, considering he is unproven (to say the least) as a movie star. But again, that goes to the movie, and the marketing team can’t do much to get away from it.

(Via Cinematical)