6. Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Year: 1979
Director: Robert Wise
Cast: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley
Poster Artist: Bob Peak
The ‘father of the modern movie poster’ Bob Peak’s design for the one- sheet was inspired. A bold and memorable image, the rainbow- coloured effect creates an aura of anticipation as it teases the audience with the recognisable faces of Kirk and Spock partly cconcealed behind it.
The confidently understated title introduced the Enterprise’s move from small to big screen, however, it was the cheeky tagline ‘There is no comparison’ that stated the film’s intent in bringing the beloved show to celluloid fruition at a time when Star Wars was still riding high in the public consciousness.
7. E.T.: The Extraterrestrial
Year: 1982
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace, Drew Barrymore
This poster was withdrawn at the time in favour of the image showing Elliot and E.T.’s fingers meeting, however, the ‘flying bicycle’ scene is one of the best-remembered from the film and such is the image’s power that Spielberg went on to use it as the logo for his production company, Amblin Entertainment.
Timeless and instantly recognisable, the shot of Elliot and E.T. silhouetted against the moon is one of the most enduring in cinema history and, now a rare and valuable collector’s item, the poster’s stark simplicity perfectly captures the film’s heartfelt story.
8. Alien
Year: 1979
Director: Ridley Scott
Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt
In much the same way as the film kept its xenomorph hidden for the most part, its poster shows you next to nothing but leaves you feeling everything.
The brooding atmospherics evoke the suspense the film conjures and the sickly green spilling from the egg hints at the menace inside. With a fantastic tagline, ‘In space no one can hear you scream’, it’s a triumph of the less is more philosophy.
9. The Terminator
Year: 1984
Director: James Cameron
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Michael Biehn
At the time Arnold Schwarzenegger was an unknown and so the decision to base the film’s poster solely around his now-iconic mug was a bold and brave move.
Straightforward and direct, much like the film itself, the poster is a terrifying portent of what the film had in store and it demonstrates the sexualised and muscled violence the Eighties would become remembered for.
10. King Kong
Year: 1933
Directors: Merian C Cooper, Ernest B Schoedsack
Cast: Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, Bruce Cabot
For a film that was so vastly ahead of its time, it is fitting that its poster is equally as prescient, and its giant monster and people in peril themes were an early indicator of things to come.
A forerunner of the posters for the creature features of the Fifties, Kong’s one-sheet is action-packed and brilliantly colourful. Kong consumes the poster like the icon of cinema he is.
