A gorgeous collection of screen-printed movie posters from Mondo and other boutique pop culture labels is now available in our eBay store! Which may leave you wondering: what exactly is a “Mondo Movie Poster”? Well, the short answer is “art”. For the longer answer, keep reading!
The Alamo Drafthouse’s T-Shirt Shop
The first Alamo Drafthouse movie theater was founded in Austin, TX in 1997. It was an early pioneer in luxury movie theater game, boasting real food and cold beer from the get-go. It also demonstrated the kind of artistic spirt that Austin is known for, running events like showing silent movies scored by local bands. They quickly became a local legend, operating multiple Austin locations and showing new movies by 2003.
In 2004, they opted to expand their offerings to merch. They founded Mondo Tees, a t-shirt shop meant to tie-in to the movie theater business. Mondo Tees’ grand debut was co-sponsoring a film-and-music festival with a nightclub. It was a bit of a disaster, but it DID result in Mondo meeting the artist who made posters for the club’s shows, Rob Jones. They put him to work creating unique movie posters for the event. They continued working with him on other events they hosted, like The Quentin Tarantino Film Festival, and he in turn brought more artists into the fold.
Mondo Posters Become The Gold Standard
Mainstream movie posters have a certain “look” to them, one focused on selling the movie in question to people walking the hallways of the local multiplex. Because their posters were for established cult classics, Mondo’s alternative posters didn’t have to follow that formula. They had a rock ‘n roll aesthetic, more closely resembling the posters in a nightclub than a movie theater. As such, prints of their posters became a fan-favorite collectible.
In the 2010s, Mondo began working with larger studios to produce limited edition posters for current movies, expanding their reach to a wider audience. However, even prints of their posters remain limited edition items. They don’t flood the market with mass-printed personality posters, they produce limited runs of individually screen-printed specimens. This has given their posters a strong following on the secondary market.
Creating An Industry
In the decades since Mondo hit the scene, various other artists and indie theaters have followed their lead. Alternative movie posters and screenprints thereof have become a new frontier in the collectibles market. It’s a field that allows artists to spread their creative wings while still appealing to an existing, global audience. A selection of those posters, from artists like “Gabz” Domaradzki and Francesco Francavilla, has just gone up in our eBay store – and more are on the way!
If you’ve got a collection of movie posters and memorabilia that you’re looking to sell, we want to help! Drop Back to the Past a line today to get that process started. And follow us on social media @b2pcollect to keep track of everything we’re up to!
