There are precious few people alive who don’t have at least one favorite movie. And while you can own the movie on physical media, that tends to end up on a shelf somewhere. If you want something to hand on the wall, you need memorabilia. But which kind is the right one for you? Let’s have a look!
Movie Posters
One-Sheet movie poster for Return of the Jedi.
Movie posters are the most widely recognized and common form of movie memorabilia around. The ones you can buy at the mall are, by and large, not the valuable ones. No, it’s the genuine studio-produced ones that are highly sought after. Standard sized movie posters, the one hanging outside your local multiplex right now, measure 41″ x 27″. Those are called one-sheets and they’re generally the largest sized “standard” poster around. Half-sheets, which aren’t widely produced for modern films, measure 22″ x 28″. Most homes have enough wall space for a standard movie poster, but fans of classic cinema often have the option to go smaller.
Space not an issue? Go big! For decades, oversized movie posters were the province of bus shelters and subway stations and measured 46″ x 67″. These days, they’re often made for oversized IMAX displays inside movie theaters (big screen, big poster, makes sense) but remain about the same size. If you’ve got the wall space for them, they make for gorgeous pieces.
Do you have 20+ foot ceilings? Then maybe vinyl banners are for you! Those bad boys are generally 96″ x 60″, or eight feet by five feet. These are the things that hang from the rafters of the modern multiplex lobby and generally advertise a different movie on either side, though some have two different posters for the same flick.
Lobby Cards
Brian DePalma’s cult classic The Phantom of the Paradise.
Lobby cards are an older form of movie promotion that’s perfect for home display. They are 11″ x 14″ cards displaying promotional stills from the movie, along with the title and major credits. They typically came in sets of eight and most movies produced before the 80s will have them. Their purpose was to be tacked up in the lobby of old school movie palaces to advertise coming features. As multiplexes became the standard type of theater, lobby cards fell out of fashion. That means you won’t find, say, lobby cards for Iron Man but you will find ones for the original Star Wars trilogy.
Promotional Stills
As photographs got cheaper to produce, movie studios started sending out 8″ x 10″ stills to promote their films. Typically black and white, they showed visually interesting moments from upcoming flicks without the size or additional info offered by lobby cards. Early on, these stills were sent out to movie theaters to tack up on boards in the lobby. Later, they generally came as part of press kits sent to reviewers and news outlets. Regardless of how they were distributed, they make for a frame-ready piece of your favorite flick.
Press Books and Movie Programs
Theatrical program for 1956’s The Ten Commandments.
Press kits and press books were packets of info sent out to folks who would report on new movies. They generally included a synopsis of the film, a full cast and crew credits, bios of the cast and major crew, and the aforementioned promo photos. Every major film release had these printed up and shipped to news outlets all over the country up through the 1990s. They were, like so many things, ultimately rendered obsolete by the internet age and generally aren’t produced these days.
Movie programs are a less common but similar piece of memorabilia. Programs were meant to be given out to theater customers for larger releases. While they contained much of the same info as a press kit, it was presented in a more polished format. Press kit info is usually typed on letter-sized paper, since the person using it will ostensibly be a professional reading it for facts. Programs are printed like booklets, usually on glossy paper, as they are meant to be keepsakes for the average person. Both, however, often have frame-worthy covers and measure around the same size – around 8.5″ x 12″ AKA the size of a folder.
What’s The Right Movie Memorabilia For You?
Only you can decide that, just like only you can decide what your favorite movie is. How full are your walls and shelves? What’s the rest of the decor like? We’re not interior designers, we can’t help you there. But we are collectibles auctioneers and we can help you buy some vintage movie memorabilia. Our May 11, 2024 auction session boasts all the kinds of items listed above and more for movies from the 50s to today! Follow us on social media @b2pcollect to keep on top of all the cool stuff we have coming to auction at any given time.
Got a collection of movie memorabilia (or comic books or vinyl records or dang near anything collectible) that you’re looking to downsize? Back to the Past can help you with that too! Drop us a line today and let us handle the hard part of selling your collection.
