THE 100 BEST MOVIE POSTERS

... According to Tccandler.com, that is. But it's an interesting list. I always said never to underestimate the power of a kick-ass one-sheet. In my opinion, nothing can get someone more stoked for a film than a striking image.

Originally, film posters were produced for the exclusive use of the theatres exhibiting the film the poster was created for, and the posters were required to be returned to the distributor after the film left the theatre. In the United States, posters were usually returned to a nation-wide operation called the National Screen Service (NSS) which printed and distributed most of the film posters for the studios between 1940 and 1984. As an economy measure, the NSS regularly recycled posters that were returned, sending them back out to be used again at another theatre. During this time, a film could stay in circulation for several years, and so many old film posters were badly worn before being retired into storage at an NSS warehouse (most often, they were thrown away when they were no longer needed or had become too worn to be used again). Those posters which were not returned were often thrown away by the theatre owner, but some film posters found their way into the hands of collectors.

Beginning in the 1980s, the film studios began taking over direct production and distribution of their posters from the National Screen Service and the process of making and distributing film posters became decentralised. Today, film posters are generally produced in much larger quantities than necessary to promote a film at the theatres, because they are also sold directly to the public by retailers who purchase them at wholesale prices from the studio distributors. Modern film posters are also often sold from websites set up by the studio to promote a given film. Because of this, modern posters are not considered rare, and are usually readily available for purchase by collectors.

TRIVIA: The 1932 Mummy 3-sheet poster, of which only 1 copy is known to exist, is considered to be the most valuable film poster in the world.

Click HERE to see the list.