24x36: A Movie About Movie Posters

A film of two halves. We see the development of film posters as advertising to sell movies. It was not regarded as art. We see the work of notable poster artists of the recent times. John Alvin, Richard Amsel, Drew Struzan. People who worked on Jaws, Star Wars, ET, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Blade Runner, Alien.

In the 1990s, the art of the film posters declined. We got floating heads lit in various ways. The film posters showed you the stars of the film, such as Face/off. Horror movies were no different. Exhibitors, video shops wanted the faces of the stars. Even if a director wanted some fancy art work he would discover that power ultimately lay with the film executives and they all went for something identical.

The second half of the film was about money. The value of old film posters, the rare ones exchanging for thousands and those companies recreating posters for classic films whether it is done legitimately or not. Some companies such as Mondo have been instrumental in the resurgence of movie artwork.

An interesting, novel subject matter but I felt lacking somewhat. I wanted more on the history of the film poster.

A documentary exploring the birth, death, and resurrection of the illustrated movie poster.

Early on, the film tells us a great truth: posters are often more iconic than any one scene of a movie. "Jaws" comes to mind, as do others, where it is the poster that has become the popular image. And yet, do any of these names sound familiar: John Alvin (1948-2008), Bob Peak (1927-1992), Reynold Brown (1917-1991), Richard Amsel (1947-1985), Drew Struzan (b. 1947). Probably not, though they were the giants of the poster art world.

The studios saw the posters as advertising, not art. And while that is true in the strictest sense, it left many great artists unappreciated. More often than not, no signatures were allowed on the posters, and the work from the earliest years in now anonymous. Who painted the great posters of Frankenstein's monster? We will never know.

As anyone who lived through the 1980s-1990s knows, in the late 80s, there was a shift to photography, with the idea that artistic posters might suggest an animated film. This claim that pops up again and again, and sounds absurd on its face, but one scene actually has a focus group looking at posters and making the exact same comment.

The "art" in poster art took a dive in the 1990s, leaving us with "floating heads" and the same layout was used over and over again. For horror fans, this was evident in the teen horror films ("Scream", "Last Summer") and has not really stopped. Even the more creative posters today seem to rehash the same poses and images over and over and over. Is poster art dead? No. Because "24x36" covers a longer history, a new trend. Not just the history of lithographs and the decline of posters, but its new resurgence thanks to the rise of Mondo, its eccentric leader Rob Jones, and the new art from specialty Blu-ray labels like Scream Factory and Arrow Video. And this generation of artists, such as Gary Pulling, are not anonymous.

"24x36" is a much-needed piece of film history. There are many biopics, and there have been focuses on the special effects. Those behind the scenes are finally getting their due. But what of the painters and sketch artists who really drove the images into our collective, pop culture imagination? Now their story can be told!

It depends on what you expect from the title, which could be seen as a bit misleading. I was jumping up and down in the first 30 min, with the history of movie posters, great examples, the artists who were big. How illustrations were great, but lost space. I thought they would go then into the bad models that generate 300 similar posters nowadays...but then it drifted away.

The so-called "second movie" is about illustrations and artistry. Models created as an alternative to the official posters, and how there is a market and a community around these models. It's certainly a good topic, full of art and value, but not connected to what I expected. Probably better posters than the original, art, but...another thing. It becomes "a movie about posters that could be *the* movie posters (but aren't)".

I just don't think it ended the discussion of how the industry has dealt with posters. That was just a great introduction to bring the alternate world as the main course. If you are into it, you should really this doc.

First off, I'll say that I enjoy documentaries about artists making art. As one myself, I have skin in the game and like seeing process stuff. But that's not what I expected here. I rented this title assuming it was an actual documentary about the history of film posters. But after it briskly covers that in the first 20-ish minutes it spends the rest of its running time hyping Alamo Drafthouse/Mondo, the posters they make and the collectors that love them. This was a real bait and switch, and it does real disservice to anyone interested in movie posters and their history. It's also incredibly lazy filmmaking. This isn't a documentary; it's lipservice to fandom. And when it starts talking about what Mondo posters are worth on the secondary market it becomes a very crass exercise. I kept expecting there to be an 800 number at the bottom of the screen saying "Order now!"

When I think of all the people still living that they could've talked to and didn't. It's like they decided, "Let's go to Austin," and that's it. And you see the blown opportunities all over it. They have Bill Stout, a guy who's done some amazing posters. Did they talk to him about those posters? Nope. Never even mentioned that he's done any. They have Joe Dante, a living encyclopedia. Do they bother talking to him for more than a couple of moments? Nope. Does Drew Struzan get any screen time? Nope. OK, there already is a feature length documentary about him, but a cameo? Nothing? If it's about the resurgence of illustrated poster art, does it extend beyond anything Mondo does? Is the UK's Graham Humphreys featured? Nope. Just one blown opportunity after another. Call this "Mondo: The Art of Groovy Posters". I paid for a documentary; I got a feature-length commercial.

First 30 minutes is about real posters for classic movies. The rest focuses on new posters for old movies. These are not real posters imho. The movie turns into a commercial for mondo, the company that sells these posters. Was hoping to see more about development of movie posters in hand with creating of the movie.