Movie Posters are one of the most important marketing assets for a film to have in order to build interest and help sell the movie when it’s released on the big screen. There are some posters that can help a movie become instantly recognizable and engraved in the memories of movie fans. A memorable movie poster stands outs instantly and gives viewers a flashback to the feelings they had the first time they went to see the film.
These ten movie posters give me that exact feeling. These might not be the best movie posters ever made but every time I see them I want to put on the movie they represent, make some popcorn and bask in the nostalgia.
These are my Top 10 Most Memorable Movie Posters.
10. Home Alone (1990)
Art Direction: Dan Webster
This iconic poster shows Macaulay Culkin doing the often imitated cheek-smack scream with Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern looking in from the window. You cannot help but want to see the antics of a young Kevin McCallister trying to prevent two burglars from entering his home.
9. Airplane (1980)
Art Direction: N/A
This poster perfectly describes the events that transpire throughout the movie and the chaos that you are in stored for when you pop this movie on your TV.
8. The Thing (1982)
Art Direction: Drew Struzan
I love this movie poster because of the relation it has with the ending of the movie. The fact that you cannot see the face of the person on the poster which parallels the ending when you do not know which of the two survivors is the thing. The ambiguity of the person is a perfect match with the film.
7. The Godfather (1972)
Art Direction: Warren Clymer
The Godfather logo has been recreated in many parodies and conceptions speaking to how timeless it is. The puppet strings above the title represent the power and manipulation that The Godfather holds on society. He is the man pulling the strings behind this legendary film.
6. Ghostbusters (1984)
Art Direction: John DeCuir Jr.
Speaking of legendary movie logos, the Ghostbusters logo has to be one of the most recognizable logos associated with a movie franchise. Whenever you see that white ghost with the red stripe across, it makes you want to strap on a proton pack one more time with the fellas. Who Ya Gonna Call?
5. Rocky (1976)
Art Direction: James H. Spencer
The classic training scene in Rocky culminates in Stallone running up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and raising his arms in victory on the top is immortalized in this poster for the greatest boxing movie every filmed.
4. Scarface (1983)
Art Direction: Ed Richardson
The extreme contrast of the black and white backgrounds split by Pacino in a 1980’s style white suit top off the eye-catching red letters that read: AL PACINO SCARFACE. I am ready to get lost in the drug lord paradise of Miami for 3 hours.
3. Jaws (1975)
Art Direction: Roger Kasel
There is nothing scarier than being in the middle of the ocean and seeing a shark fin break through the surface. Looking at that giant shark lurking under the water will give anybody anxiety just by staring at it.
2. The Exorcist (1973)
Art Direction: Bill Gold
One of the most terrifying movies ever made deserved an equally creepy poster to set the ambiance for the film. The eeriness of looking at the priest about to go inside the house in the dark gloomy setting gives you an accurate understanding of just how unsettling this horror masterpiece is.
1. Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977)
Art Direction: Drew Struzan
The legendary poster that every Star Wars fanboy proudly pinned to their wall. This is, in my opinion, the greatest movie poster ever made. It is a mural of everything great in the Star Wars universe and an artistic masterpiece that was unlike any poster that was made at the time. To this day, it has not been surpassed when it comes to how epic this work of art is.
