There are a lot of factors to consider while promoting a new movie. Some things to consider are the target demographic, the selling points that make your movie unique, how you want the movie to be perceived by the audience, and the ability to adapt your plan when needed. In the midst of all this, graphic designers need to come together and create posters that creatively suit the former-stated conditions.
This method of advertising has been used since public film-watching first became a pastime; starting with two-dimensional graphic art, professing to the digital style we often see today. Some of the most iconic posters are even collected and traded, and the prices can get pretty steep. Unfortunately, not every poster isgood enough to beJawsorThe Matrix. These are the ten most ineffective movie posters.
10The Spirit (2008)
With a cast full of stars like Samuel L. Jackson, Eva Mendes, and Scarlett Johansson, this movie failed to make a noticeable dent in the box office—so, what went wrong? Well, it is hard to say exactly whyThe Spiritended up being another forgotten thriller movie from the late 2000s, but this poster surely did not do it any favors. While it is not the worst-looking poster on this list, it is hard to grasp exactly what this movie has to offer just from glancing at it. Featuring some of the prominent cast members is a good idea, but the cheap costumes take away from the proposed serious tone. The vibe given off is campy and unserious, and there is not enough visual intrigue to capture attention in a meaningful way.
If they took some inspiration from better posters of the same genre, audiences might have responded toThe Spirit’s posters in a more positive way; rather than criticizing them for being uninteresting, and hard to look at.
9Heavy Petting (2007)
While a comedy movie of this nature is unlikely to come out in today’s industry climate,Heavy Pettingand its wacky plot was par for the course in the late 2000s. The entire story revolves around a man who is pursuing a woman and must become close with her dog as well if he hopes to even have a chance with her. The catch is that the man ends up liking the dog more than her, so actually, he needs to keep himself interested in the woman to continue spending time with the dog.
Confusing enough? If so, we regretfully have to make it known that the poster for this movie provides no significant context as to what this is supposed to be about whatsoever. It makes it appear as if the dog is competing for its owner’s romance in a very uncomfortable way, which could not be any further from the case. While the humor is definitely intentional, that didn’t stop this one from being received negatively at the time.
8The Room (2003)
This Tommy Wiseau movie isa cult classic, even if its initial reception was incredibly harsh. It was also his directorial debut, and screenwriting debut, but as it turned out for Wiseau, his lack of experience was for the better in the long run. Even if the hate he received had a generally happy ending, it does not change that the marketing as a whole was confusing to say the least.
The Roomwas promoted as if it were a black comedy, but the cast aside from Wiseau himself thought of it as a poorly constructed drama. The movie poster shown above was rejected by consumers, and they described the design of it to be unappealing. This was a fair criticism because some also stated that it told them nothing about the plot or characters. All someone could get from the poster is the title and the leading actor, but a poster simply needs more in order to do its job sufficiently.
7The Penthouse (2021)
The Penthouse, an American crime-thriller, had an interesting premise that held a ton of potential, which in turn, should have made the job of creating a great poster for it easy. A man suspects that a nosy neighbor saw a murder that happened in his apartment from their window, and everything goes off the rails from there. While audiences had their contentions with the movie’s script, the posters that were used to market it were quite absurd—which can be done well, but that would require the poster to not appear as if an early 2000s photo editor was used, rather than the latest modern edition of Adobe Photoshop.
The poster in question features two members of the lead cast’s heads floating in the sky above a penthouse, but it is obvious that their facial expressions were not made with promotional material in mind. With better editing and planning, this could have possibly been pulled off. But, the reality is a result that could unintentionally lead people to believe that this is for a mid-budget independent film, rather than a heart-racing thriller.
Related:Movies That Actively Alienate the Audience
6Troll 2 (1990)
Other than its poster, one of the funniest parts aboutTroll 2is that this sequel of the first film was completely unauthorized—made without permission of the original creators, no plot connection to the first film, and failed to make any substantial noise commercially. People felt misled by this, and were confused to see a bunch of goblins instead of trolls… and one might think the other way around would be the obvious choice.
5The Shaggy Dog (2006)
No,The Shaggy Dogis not a horror movie, although its uncanny valley poster could lead you to believe otherwise. The Shaggy Dog is a family-friendly comedy starring Tim Allen, where he quite literally plays a possessed dog—specifically, a Bearded Collie, which is where the movie got its name. While the premise is out there, it is based on a novel from 1923, so they did not get it out of thin air.
The movie is not good by conventional means, and critics attested to that opinion by saying it lacked originality and any spirit. However, it is still a fun watch just to see the absurdity of the plot, and to get a good laugh out of the special effects. The poster features the signature Bearded Collie, which would have been fine if they opted out of Photoshopping Allen’s human eyes onto the dog. The result is one that we will be haunted by for years to come, and have been remembering since it came out in 2006.
4John Carter (2012)
Classic science-fiction fans were ecstatic when Walt Disney announced that they were developing this film.
Adapted from A Princess of Mars in the Barsoom book series,John Carteris one of the first science fiction protagonists, and one most buffs of the genre are familiar with. With that sort of hype train to ride off of, marketing for the film should have been generally easy. Appeal to those fans, while showing new ones what is so unique about the franchise. With the qualities of the film itself disregarded, the marketing visuals were criticized as being bland and those that had never heard of A Princess of Mars were unsure as to why this film was worth seeing over any other generic sci-fi feature. The movie posters look like they did not even attempt to capture what made the book series so iconic in the first place, and it marked a short end to Disney’s next thought-to-be hit.
Related:John Carter: The Unluckiest IP in Entertainment History
3Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Other than the X-Men and The Avengers, Marvel’s hottest commodity has always been Spider-Man. The web-slinging ultra-sensory hero raked in billions of dollars over the years, so the beginning of any Spider-Man trilogy is destined to do well based on the name and brand value alone. So, the marketing team working onSpider-Man: Homecomingdid not have to worry too much about piquing the public’s collective interest. Though, they did have big shoes to fill with the previous franchise entries all having consistently strong posters, all of which were well-received.
While popularity being able to carry marketing is true, that did not give Marvel an excuse to drop the ball with this poster. When it was first revealed, many of the criticisms were targeted toward the redundancy of the MCU’s poster style, often called the “floating heads” design method. Many movies are guilty of rehashing this method, but this instance was particularly egregious simply because of how visually incoherent it was. Fans did not know where to look and blamed that on the cluttered, uninspired design choices.
2Baby Geniuses 2 (2004)
We are not quite sure who this film was for, to be completely honest. It looks like a family-targeted comedy at first glance, but the terrifying and uncanny super-genius babies likely gave younger audience members nightmares and a lifetime of trauma. Going by the title, it can be inferred that this was a sequel—one that did fine at the box office but was not particularly memorable. So, perhaps they learned a thing or two, and this was their second chance at making something that would reach blockbuster status.
That sadly was not the case, asBaby Geniuses 2failed to measure up to the first iteration. The poster for the second movie is somehow even more poorly designed than the first, and even scarier. It, along with the movie, was criticized by audiences for this, with a laundry list of other reasons we will not get into. Our focus is on the posters, and this one just could not cut it when it came to successfully promoting the movie.
Related:Baby Geniuses: The Story of Hollywood’s Most Bizarre Franchise
1Pootie Tang (2001)
A lot of the movies in this list have senseless plots, butPootie Tangwould have to take the cake. This is largely to do with the fact that it is adapted from a sketch that appeared on a comedy show. Sketches are typically good one-off jokes when they don’t extend their expiration date. A full-length feature film inherently drags out this joke, and especially so when more elements and plot dynamics are not added to keep things interesting.
With that being said, the promotional posters forPootie Tangwere lambasted for several factors. The art style was a caricature in nature, but off-putting to many, the pose was considered unnatural looking, and not much is there to tell the audience that this is a satirical movie about a comedic superhero.
