Betrayed (2005) – Basic Instinct (1992)
The DVD cover for Betrayed and the one for Halloween Camp are the reasons this article exists in the first place. They made me aware of how some posters were shamelessly ripping off other posters of popular movies. Look at this example for instance. It doesn’t even try to be creative, it just is a plain copy even duplicating the shadow behind the couple and the diagonal line across the page. I guess this simulates bedsheets or something…Somebody should be suing!
Cobra (1986) – The Terminator (1984)
Again the copying is less conspicuous with these two. When apart they won’t come in mind when discussing this subject, but when put next to each other the similarities can’t be denied; Black dressed moviestar with a shiny muscled chest holding up a gun with his right arm while wearing a black leather glove. They both wear sunglasses and their face has the same expression. Both posters even use the color scheme red-black extensively.
Flandres (2006) –
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
The simple image of an army helmet on a white background was the poster for Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket. In 2006 a poster designer in France probably decided to use that setup apparently for a war movie called Flandres because when seeing the DVD cover for the first time it immediately reminded me of Full Metal Jacket.
Seven (1995) – Kiss The Girls (1997) – Double Jeopardy (1999)
This could be called a trilogy as they could be well sequels from each other by looking at the poster designs and casts. First we have Seven, of which this is one of many posters which was made for that movie. It’s got two faces looking seriously in the camera divided by something in the middle, in this case a list of the seven sins. Kiss the girls does the same thing but replaces Brad Pitt with Ashley Judd and the list with a silhouette of a face. The poster of Double Jeopardy has Ashley Judd returning, now looking more tougher and Morgan Freeman being replaced by Tommy Lee Jones. The dividier in the middle is now a montage of a boat and a knife.
Scream (1996) – The Faculty (1998) – I know what you did last summer (1997) – Halloween H20 (1998) and countless others…
When Scream was released in 1996 and proved to be a huge hit it was the start of a new slasher-hype. The general poster of Scream didn’t have all the central cast members featured on it, an alternative one did. Every horror movie following in Scream’s footsteps seems to have taken over that concept of having all the major cast members look worried together with the main threat (the killer) or a place (mostly schools as 99% of these movies feature teens) on the cover. These are just 10 movies I gathered, a lot of them have sequels with a cover that is also built up like this.
The Incredibles (2004) – Shrek (2001)
Pixar; so well-known for their original movies. The Incredibles was a great success in 2004 and was the first full length 3D animation motion picture to feature only humans instead of talking animals or other creatures. Well the poster for this movie is not so original as it is a basic copy of the poster for Shrek. The same month The Incredibles was released this little yellow sponge also had his movie in cinema:
That’s it. Hope you enjoyed this little tour in the world of movie poster plagiarism. If you have any additions, feel free to send them to me
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