Trends Used In Comedy Movie Posters From 1915 to 2010

Movie posters are a fantastic source of inspiration for artists and designers of all kinds. Different genres of film tend to have different techniques and trends – sci-fi posters tend to be dark, gloomy and atmospheric for example, whereas comedy posters (as showcased in this article) are quite minimal (especially posters designed in the more modern day such as the 90’s and 2000’s).

This compilation showcases a total of nintey-nine comedy posters, that’s one poster per year going all the way back to 1915. Throughout the decades and years we can see how movie poster design has developed from full-on painted works of art to incredible rendered posters and digitally textured photographs.

We ask for one thing in return for showcasing this awesome collection of posters: What are your favorite posters showcased in the article, and why? Be sure to let us know in the comments section at the bottom of the post!

The 1910’s

An obvious trend used in the very early 1900’s were borders. From oddly shaped yellow borders in ‘Hearts and Planets’ to green triangle patterned borders used in ‘His Picture in the Papers’. It was clear a lot of effort went into these early movie posters.

1915 – Hearts and Planets

1916 – His Picture in the Papers

1917 – The Man from the Painted Post

1918 – Mickey

1919 – Daddy Long Legs

The 1920’s

In the posters showcased below for the 1920’s we see a bit of everything, from minimalisticism in ‘Woman-Proof’ and ‘The Cohens and the Kellys’, monochromatic images in ‘Along Came Ruth’, to basic comic drawings in ‘So This Is College’.

1920 – The Texan

1921 – Alf’s Button

1922 – French Heels

1923 – Woman-Proof

1924 – Along Came Ruth

1925 – Little Annie Rooney

1926 – The Cohens and the Kellys

1927 – Casey at the Bat

1928 – The Fleets In

1929 – So this is College

The 1930’s

Although typography strokes were used prior to the 1930’s, I feel they were taken to the next level in this decade. Strokes were used to make text appear three-dimensional in movie posters such as ‘Check and Double Check’ and ‘The Devil is a Sissy’.

1930 – Check and Double Check

1931 – City Lights

1932 – Dance Team

1933 – Duck Soup

1934 – Gay Love

1935 – Top Hat

1936 – The Devil is a Sissy

1937 – Wild and Woolly

1938 – Bringing Up Baby

1939 – At The Circus

The 1940’s

The 1940’s seems to be the year when comedy movie posters actually had a fun and energetic feel to them. Oversized heads were used in the poster ‘A Night in Casablanca’ and there are smiles all round.

1940 – A Chump at Oxford

1941 – Mr. Bug goes to Town

1942 – Tortilla Flat

1943 – Girl Crazy

1944 – Cover Girl

1945 – The Charlie Chaplin Cavalcade

1946 – A Night in Casablanca

1947 – The Egg and I

1948 – The Boy with Green Hair

1949 – I was a Male Bride

The 1950’s

Experimental compositions started to come into play in the 50’s. Prior to the 50’s, most posters were made up from individual images and some typography, whereas in the 50’s posters are composed using several different images – a huge step in the movie poster world, giving it’s viewers more of a feel for the movie.

1950 – Key to the City

1951 – Let’s Make It Legal

1952 – Love is Better Than Ever

1953 – Stalag 17

1954 – Sabrina

1955 – The Trouble With Harry

1956 – Around the World in 80 Days

1957 – Funny Face

1958 – Damn Yankees

1959 – Some Like It Hot

The 1960’s

As color was becoming easier to process, more bright and vivid color schemes were being used in movie posters of the 60’s. Bright blues, pinks and oranges were used in ‘Once More, With Feeling!’ as well as what looks like real developed photographs instead of illustrated paintings.

1960 – Once More, With Feeling!

1961 – One, Two, Three

1962 – The Road to Hong Kong

1963 – Sunday in New York

1964 – Never Put it in Writing

1965 – The Art of Love

1966 – Alfie

1967 – Thoroughly Modern Millie

1968 – Salt and Pepper

1969 – Some Kind of a Nut

The 1970’s

The 70’s saw hand-drawn sketches being merged with photographic portraits in Walt Disneys ‘Boatniks’, early use of grid-based design in ‘Trafic’, and simple two-color color schemes such as that used in the ‘Outrageous!’ movie poster.

1970 – Boatniks

1971 – Guess What!?!

1972 – Trafic

1973 – Bummer!

1974 – The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat

1975 – Six Pack Annie

1976 – The Shaggy D.A.

1977 – Outrageous!

1978 – Malibu Beach

1979 – The Jerk

The 1980’s

Minimalism became a big trend in movie poster design in the 80’s that posters such as ‘They All Laughed’, ‘Fast Times’, ‘Private School’ and ‘Bad Medicine’ all followed. Grid-based design continued to grow, with more and more elements in the posters being aligned to one another to create an easy composition for the eyes to scan.

1980 – Middle Age Crazy

1981 – They All Laughed

1982 – Fast Times

1983 – Private School

1984 – Where The Boys Are ’84

1985 – Bad Medicine

1986 – Off Beat

1987 – Nice Girls Don’t Explode

1988 – Twins

1989 – Loverboy

The 1990’s

We don’t see many more trends in the early or mid 90’s, only improvements on the trends and techniques that were already in place.

Minimalism was still a huge factor of movie poster design, as well as grid-design. However, the posters do look much more adventurous, using different techniques to attract the viewers attention. In 1995 ‘Toy Story’ was released, along with it came several superb animated film posters using handfuls of technology. ‘American Pie’ broke the rule of the grid, purposely tilting the grid sideways to create a unique look.

1990 – Men at Work

1991 – Only the Lonely

1992 – Home Alone

1993 – The Sandlot

1994 – Dreisam

1995 – Toy Story

1996 – Happy Gilmore

1997 – Flubber

1998 – Antz

1999 – American Pie

The 2000’s

The future is here and computer software is getting more and more powerful – I’m sure most of you will recognize most of these posters, meaning they did there job correctly and stuck in your mind for all these years. We see some more great animated posters from ‘Monsters, Inc.’, ‘Surf’s Up’ and ‘Cloudy with a chance of Meat Balls’.

2000 – Scary Movie

2001 – Monters, Inc.

2002 – Jackass: The Movie

2003 – Bruce Almighty

2004 – Dodgeball

2005 – The 40 Year-Old Virgin

2006 – Big Mommas House

2007 – Surf’s Up

2008 – Bedtime Stories

2009 – Cloudy with a chance of Meat Balls

The trends of 2010

Here are four comedy posters that are due to be released in 2010:

2010 – Despicable Me

2010 – Shrek: The Final Chapter

2010 – Toy Story 3

2010 – Youth in Revolt

Your Turn To Talk

I hope you enjoyed this post! Please take a minute to chime in and leave a comment below. Which posters were your favorites?

source: IMP Awards

Save a big deal on your real exam with 000-152 prep course and pass your real exam on first try using 70-291 dumps and 646-671 practice exam.