Movie Posters, Part Ten: 1980s to 2010s

We made it to end of the series.  Can I take a nap?

Stir Crazy (1980) 

The poster features Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor absurdly dressed in giant bird costumes.  The bright feathers, awkward poses, and comedic facial expressions amplify the silliness.  The concept of the poster is built entirely on a single gag.  The poster leans heavily on the chemistry between the stars.

Porky's (1981) 

This is teen sex-comedy marketing at its most blunt - provocative, playful, and slightly taboo.  The poster features a peeping-eye visible through a hole in a shower wall.  This a literal visualization of the film's voyeuristic humor.

Tootsie (1982) 

The poster features Dustin Hoffman, dressed in drag, placed against a huge American flag, implying national attention and fame.  The red sequined dress is glamorous yet comedic, contrasting Hoffman's masculine features.  His curly red wig, oversized glasses, and broad grin amplify the silliness of his drag persona.  Bright, patriotic, playful, this poster sells both Hoffman's performance and the film's satirical take on Hollywood and gender norms.

The Man With Two Brains (1983) 

The poster looks almost like a Mad Magazine cover.  This sci-fi spoof reaches the level of cartoon madness.  Steve Martin's exaggerated, manic face fills the frame. His head is literally unzipped - a Looney Tunes-style visual gag.  The electric blue background gives a Frankenstein lab vibe.  Pink lightning bolts zap the title.  It is an unmistakably silly single-image concept, which was used for comedy films of this period. 

Trading Places (1983) 

The poster features Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd hugging and holding bundles of cash.  The film is a money-themed buddy comedy with a sharp social satire edge.  The ornate money border frame reinforces the themes of economics.  The background image of Wall Street situates the narrative in the world of high finance.  The tagline - "They're not just getting rich… They're getting even." - sets up a revenge story.

Ghostbusters (1984) 

This poster is a darker and more action-oriented than later promotional imagery for the film.  The poster features the three Ghostbusters in uniform, posed like action heroes.  The stormy sky suggests a supernatural threat.  The Ghostbusters logo at center seeks to establish immediate branding for the film.  The poster communicates comedy + action + paranormal danger.  The poster has a serious edge but still promises fun through the characters' expressions and the comic logo.

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)

The poster features Bill and Ted cheerfully riding a glowing time-travel phone booth through outer space while several historical figures peek out of the booth. This is a quintessential late-80s teen sci-fi comedy poster - colorful, loud, and visually energetic.  It sells goofiness, time-travel adventure and a stoner-friendly "dude " energy. The tone is light, playful, and hyperactive.

As the Hollywood blockbuster rose, posters became more photorealistic.  Tom Jung's poster for Star Wars (1977), Richard Amsel poster for Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and Drew Struzan's poster for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) feature action collages - faces and explosions arranged in pyramidal compositions.  These posters are epic and cinematic, emphasizing the adventure elements of the films.  

Struzan demonstrated a painterly photorealism with his posters for Blade Runner (1982), Back to the Future (1985), The Goonies (1985) and Hook (1991).  His lighting tended to have a sunset glow.

  

Struzan sometimes stepped away from adventure films for comedies.

The Hero Portrait Style, in which the protagonist is centered on the poster, is evident with the posters for Rocky III (1982) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991).  The poster features a bold title and a tagline.  

Horror and sci-fi posters relied on symbolism.  An isolated image of menace or mystery was front and center in the posters for Jaws (1975) and Alien (1979).  

The common traits of the era's posters were airbrushed realism, cinematic lighting, bold titles, and dramatic contrast.

Let's head to the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s.  This era saw a move toward subtlety and wit rather than spectacle.  

Flat minimalism - one object or symbol - was the basis of the posters for The Social Network and Moon (2009).  

Retro palettes and textures were present in the posters for The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) and Little Miss Sunshine (2006).  

The portrait of the Tenenbaum family evokes warm 1970s Kodachrome film stock with its muted reds, dusty pinks, creams, ochres, and browns.  The portrait's subtle grain and matte finish simulates aged print photography rather than glossy modern design.  The symmetry and typeface (a Futura-style sans serif with clean spacing) mimic mid-century family portraits and Life magazine layouts - retro but reinterpreted through Wes Anderson's controlled aesthetic.  

The poster for Little Miss Sunshine, which was designed by Dawn Baillie, evokes a 1950s roadside Americana travel poster with its vintage yellow bus motif and bold, simplified color blocks.  

The minimalist layout with vast empty space adds a daring whimsy.  Angelina Lippert, who has exhibited Baillie's posters at Poster House, said, "This is a daring and exciting poster because of all the negative space. She chose to essentially not use two-thirds of the poster. . . [The family is] composited together into this running scene.  It has this playfulness to it.  It's comical, strange, unexpected."

The poster for Anger Management (2003) features two enormous faces pressed together, mouths open, veins visible. This is early-2000s character-comedy marketing: big, loud, and actor-driven.  It relies entirely on the celebrity personas: Sandler (everyman frustration) vs Nicholson (unhinged mischief).  The clean white background focuses attention on the emotional explosion.   It sells the movie not through plot but through a personality clash. 

A festival indie style arose.  Muted tones and soft focus photography were featured in the posters for Lost in Translation (2003) and Before Sunrise (1995).  

These posters are quiet, emotional, ironic, or poetic.  They rely on conceptual metaphor over plot summary.  The images have pastel tones or subtle desaturation.  

Let's examine the poster for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004).  At the very top there's an image of the protagonists (Jim Carrey as Joel Barish and Kate Winslet as Clementine Kruczynski) leaning together on a frozen surface of a pond.  The bottom portion of the poster shows Carrey's eyes looking upward toward the couple above.  The color palette is cool - icy blues, whites, with a contrast of warmer tones around the film title to catch the eye.  The ice suggests something beautiful but brittle — memories frozen in time, about to crack.  Carrey’s gaze upward suggests introspection, being aware of something lost (or about to be lost). The poster places the viewer in Joel’s perspective - watching his memories fragment and vanish.

Today, designers mix nostalgia with irony.  Neo-Retro Realism can be seen with the poster for Drive (2011), which provide an 1980s homage with its neon colors, artificial grain, reflective leather, and dreamy glow.  It is a fusion of Miami Vice glamour and neo-noir grit, stylized as an aesthetic of 1980s cool.  

The poster for Arrival (2016) includes fog, light diffusion and watercolor-like gradients, which convey mystery and softness.  

The poster for Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) is a hyperreal collage.  

The common traits of the era's posters were conceptual simplicity, emotional resonance, and symbolic imagery.

I hope that you enjoyed this series.