Movie Posters and Light boxes

Originally Posted by SuperTal

Yes, 27x40 and 27x41 is the standard depending on your frame.

Try allposters.com they have a double-sided category. I typically get mine off ebay.

Originally Posted by jayn_j

27x40 is the standard size for the vasst majority of double sided posters, but I have at least one (Stargate) that is 27x41.

Originally Posted by jayn_j

Hi Jim,

Not sure where you live, but in Milwaukee or any big city, the best cost effective solution is Craigslist.

Movie theaters give posters to employees, who often turn around and sell them on craigslist. Our local list has one guy currently selling 100 posters at about $5/ea. You can bring him down on price if you buy several.

You can develop a relationship with a theater manager and sometimes get free posters, but probably not the desirable ones.

The eBay sellers do this and then mark up the posters for redistribution. The thing is that the studios do not sell directly to the public or to the dealers. This is advertising material that goes to the theaters, and that is where you need to find it.

Two reliable eBay sellers are ddilts399 and pict_res. BTW, that last one is a pun:

Originally Posted by jayn_j

I've never bought from him and cannot comment on what he has. My own collection is mostly pre-1980.

Just go to milwaukee.craigslist.org and do a search for 'movie poster'. He will stick out as he lists every poster as a separate item.

Originally Posted by jayn_j

Again, I am not the greatest expert on modern posters, and there are a lot of folks who can probably give better answers over on www.allposterforum.com

movieposter.com sells both legitimate and repro posters, but is good about listing the repros as such. Their prices tend to be a bit high, and you could likely get those first two for $10-15 with some searching. Of course, this is a no-fuss way of getting them, and there are a lot of other issues such as shipping costs and quality of packing. Many dealers rely on those triangle tubes from the post office and they simply don't stand up to the wear and tear. You end up with a wrinkled or mangled poster.

Why a certain poster sells for more is a complex subject. Probably best to say "magic" or "witchcraft". It is usually a matter of supply and demand. The Star Trek you showed was an advance poster ("Coming Soon"). They tend to sell for more as fewer are printed. Sometimes a poster is recalled, and then everybody has to have one and the price skyrockets into the hundreds of dollars. Some examples are the Pulp Fiction one with the Lucky Strike cigarette pack. RJ Reynolds sued and they were forced to reissue with a generic cigarette pack. Another was the Dark Knight "Why So Serious" poster that was recalled after Heath ledger's death. Yet another was the Dick Tracy with Madonna and the caption "Mind if I call you Dick?"

Sometimes a poster for a bad movie goes crazy because of rarity and design. Recent examples include "Hobo With a Shotgun" and "Red Tails". But usually it is difficult to tell ahead of time what is going to start a frenzy.

Originally Posted by KenLerch

PacMan2006,


You are correct. "Original" normally means that a poster was run/printed with the original posters that were hung in movie theaters. Some of the posters may have actually been hung in a theater. Reproductions are run after this first run. You will find that some reproductions are of lesser quality than others, especially in the case of single-sided posters. There is even one company that is purchasing posters, taking photos of them and printing them on a digital printer and selling them. The quality is not the greatest, as you can imagine.

But if you find a double-sided poster that is not an "original" you should be safe in that the quality of the image in your illuminated poster case should look fine and as good as an "original." I think it's much more difficult to fake a double-sided poster correctly. Therefore you won't find as many poor quality versions out there as you do with single-sided posters.

Originally Posted by jayn_j

Ken nailed it pretty much right on the head.

The vast majority of reproductions are single sided. You do not want to put a single sided poster into a lightbox. It will look washed out. That was the whole point of creating the double sided ones, so it is best to search these out.

Originally Posted by jayn_j

Not an easy answer. Many collectors will end up eventually buying a used "flat file" off of craigslist or ebay. You can usually get 5 drawers for $100-150, although they can go for less if you are patient. These are the file cabinets that used to be used for blueprints and which are mostly obsolete these days. They have brands like Mayline and are of heavy steel construction. Make sure you get one with drawers large enough to handle posters as they come in several sizes.
Here are some current listings in Houston:
http://houston.craigslist.org/bfs/2995580770.html (a tad pricey, but in nice shape. 10 drawers)
http://houston.craigslist.org/for/2932481322.html (cheaper, but drawers and would need some clean up)

Sleeves for posters can be had in poly or mylar from bags unlimited
http://www.bagsunlimited.com/c-433-prints-poster.aspx
or uline

You can also get flat storage boxes from bags unlimited:
http://www.bagsunlimited.com/c-339-storage-boxes.aspx

Uline has this stuff as well, but it is harder to search it out, so I didn't bother.

Beginners usually just keep the posters in the rolled tubes of flat packaging that they came in though.

Originally Posted by jayn_j

What you are describing is called a portfolio. I have never seen one that big. They usually max out at 24x36. I do know of someone who had custom sleeves made and then created the covers from foamboard. IF you are interested, I could dig up a link.

Flattening a poster requires patience. You remove it from the tube and let it unwind for a day or so. You can then unroll it and let it roll itself back up. After you repeat this a few times, you will get a poster that can be flattened. I generally keep them flat by adding them to a stack of already flattened posters. Weight is OK, but you need broad surfaces and even pressure to do it right. If you try to rush the process, you get waves in the poster, or in the worst case actual fold marks.

Originally Posted by BigAl523

By the way, one of the previous posters was correct that double-sided movie posters, which are made for lightboxes, are expensive to reproduce. Thus, if you are buying a double-sided poster, it is reasonable to expect it is original (assuming it is from a reputable dealer).

Originally Posted by sabresfan08

I ordered a Thor double sided poster from ddilts399 Tuesday night. Shipped Wednesday and would've been here yesterday but the ever-reliable USPS misrouted it to a different zip code so who knows when it'll arrive. $20 shipped with tracking is a good deal and he has almost 900 posters listed in his ebay store. I'll post some pictures when it arrives. I also picked up some frames from Michaels earlier in the week. 27x40 frame was buy one get one for .01! So $30 for 2 frames (they're the cheaper ones but still pretty decent).

Originally Posted by jayn_j

Yep, its a lot cheaper to frame 27x40 modern posters. Michaels used to sell 27x41, but stopped carrying them 10-15 years ago.

ddilts is one of the best dealers of new material out there. He is a regular contributor on the poster forums as well.