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Trends Used In Comedy Movie Posters From 1915 to 2010

February 8, 2010 by Callum Chapman 22 Comments

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

Comedy Poster

1916 – His Picture in the Papers

Comedy Poster

1917 – The Man from the Painted Post

Comedy Poster

1918 – Mickey

Comedy Poster

1919 – Daddy Long Legs

Comedy Poster

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

Comedy Poster

1921 – Alf’s Button

Comedy Poster

1922 – French Heels

Comedy Poster

1923 – Woman-Proof

Comedy Poster

1924 – Along Came Ruth

Comedy Poster

1925 – Little Annie Rooney

Comedy Poster

1926 – The Cohens and the Kellys

Comedy Poster

1927 – Casey at the Bat

Comedy Poster

1928 – The Fleets In

Comedy Poster

1929 – So this is College

Comedy Poster

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

Comedy Poster

1931 – City Lights

Comedy Poster

1932 – Dance Team

Comedy Poster

1933 – Duck Soup

Comedy Poster

1934 – Gay Love

Comedy Poster

1935 – Top Hat

Comedy Poster

1936 – The Devil is a Sissy

Comedy Poster

1937 – Wild and Woolly

Comedy Poster

1938 – Bringing Up Baby

Comedy Poster

1939 – At The Circus

Comedy Poster

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

Comedy Poster

1941 – Mr. Bug goes to Town

Comedy Poster

1942 – Tortilla Flat

Comedy Poster

1943 – Girl Crazy

Comedy Poster

1944 – Cover Girl

Comedy Poster

1945 – The Charlie Chaplin Cavalcade

Comedy Poster

1946 – A Night in Casablanca

Comedy Poster

1947 – The Egg and I

Comedy Poster

1948 – The Boy with Green Hair

Comedy Poster

1949 – I was a Male Bride

Comedy Poster

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

Comedy Poster

1951 – Let’s Make It Legal

Comedy Poster

1952 – Love is Better Than Ever

Comedy Poster

1953 – Stalag 17

Comedy Poster

1954 – Sabrina

Comedy Poster

1955 – The Trouble With Harry

Comedy Poster

1956 – Around the World in 80 Days

Comedy Poster

1957 – Funny Face

Comedy Poster

1958 – Damn Yankees

Comedy Poster

1959 – Some Like It Hot

Comedy Poster

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!

Comedy Poster

1961 – One, Two, Three

Comedy Poster

1962 – The Road to Hong Kong

Comedy Poster

1963 – Sunday in New York

Comedy Poster

1964 – Never Put it in Writing

Comedy Poster

1965 – The Art of Love

Comedy Poster

1966 – Alfie

Comedy Poster

1967 – Thoroughly Modern Millie

Comedy Poster

1968 – Salt and Pepper

Comedy Poster

1969 – Some Kind of a Nut

Comedy Poster

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

Comedy Poster

1971 – Guess What!?!

Comedy Poster

1972 – Trafic

Comedy Poster

1973 – Bummer!

Comedy Poster

1974 – The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat

Comedy Poster

1975 – Six Pack Annie

Comedy Poster

1976 – The Shaggy D.A.

Comedy Poster

1977 – Outrageous!

Comedy Poster

1978 – Malibu Beach

Comedy Poster

1979 – The Jerk

Comedy Poster

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

Comedy Poster

1981 – They All Laughed

Comedy Poster

1982 – Fast Times

Comedy Poster

1983 – Private School

Comedy Poster

1984 – Where The Boys Are ’84

Comedy Poster

1985 – Bad Medicine

Comedy Poster

1986 – Off Beat

Comedy Poster

1987 – Nice Girls Don’t Explode

Comedy Poster

1988 – Twins

Comedy Poster

1989 – Loverboy

Comedy Poster

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

Comedy Poster

1991 – Only the Lonely

Comedy Poster

1992 – Home Alone

Comedy Poster

1993 – The Sandlot

Comedy Poster

1994 – Dreisam

Comedy Poster

1995 – Toy Story

Comedy Poster

1996 – Happy Gilmore

Comedy Poster

1997 – Flubber

Comedy Poster

1998 – Antz

Comedy Poster

1999 – American Pie

Comedy Poster

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

Comedy Poster

2001 – Monters, Inc.

Comedy Poster

2002 – Jackass: The Movie

Comedy Poster

2003 – Bruce Almighty

Comedy Poster

2004 – Dodgeball

Comedy Poster

2005 – The 40 Year-Old Virgin

Comedy Poster

2006 – Big Mommas House

Comedy Poster

2007 – Surf’s Up

Comedy Poster

2008 – Bedtime Stories

Comedy Poster

2009 – Cloudy with a chance of Meat Balls

Comedy Poster

The trends of 2010

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

2010 – Despicable Me

Comedy Poster

2010 – Shrek: The Final Chapter

Comedy Poster

2010 – Toy Story 3

Comedy Poster

2010 – Youth in Revolt

Comedy Poster

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

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Filed Under: Design, Inspirational, Showcase

Comments

  1. App Sheriff says

    February 8, 2010 at 2:22 pm

    Absolutely Loved the Big Momma Poster. lol
    Dugg for it .. :)

  2. Mike Smith says

    February 8, 2010 at 2:43 pm

    Awesome post. I love seeing how the design elements differ for each time period, yet still hold some of the same style. Definitely a cool post Callum. My favorite is probably Home Alone 2, although I may be saying that because I love the movie a lot :)

  3. Mario says

    February 8, 2010 at 7:57 pm

    Outrageous!!! love the post…

  4. Smashing Share says

    February 9, 2010 at 12:05 am

    Nice post Callum. B/w was just wondering if the word “Trom”, in Title is written intentionally or by mistake ? (Don’t know the meaning of Trom :))

  5. BigM75 says

    February 9, 2010 at 3:14 am

    great posters, in the beginning are nice

  6. Callum Chapman says

    February 9, 2010 at 3:48 am

    Glad you all like the post and it’s doing so well on Digg! We appreciate all your votes! :) The post took a very long time to put together, so it’s great to know it’s paying off and you guys like it.

    @Smashing Share – It’s meant to say ‘From’ – must’ve been one of Jon’s typos haha, I’m sure he’ll change it! :)

  7. Almighty Watashi says

    February 9, 2010 at 6:50 am

    marx brothers posters look very modern for their time

  8. Bryan says

    February 9, 2010 at 6:59 am

    wow. Love it…

  9. pakaworld says

    February 9, 2010 at 8:12 am

    They are all awesome and i love every bit of it. It have make me know how computer as change the way we design movies posters. Thank you.

  10. Jon Phillips says

    February 9, 2010 at 9:06 am

    @Smashing Share, @Callum: haha yep, that was me! Thanks for the heads up. Fixed now :)

  11. peter hirschman says

    February 9, 2010 at 6:21 pm

    as a film buff and a collector of film paper this is a gift from heaven(though not for my printer) the fact i have seen most of these movies makes them even more nostalgic .
    keep up the good work peter h.

  12. isabel says

    February 9, 2010 at 10:12 pm

    seen those posters of those old films make me see how minimalist the design have become and how fast we as designer want the message come i love them all all of the have a story to tell from thenselves

  13. Cranky Pressman says

    February 9, 2010 at 10:34 pm

    I like simplicity, even in comedy poster design so vote for Bringing Up Baby, One Two Three, The Sandlot and my favorite is Antz.

  14. aditia says

    February 9, 2010 at 10:48 pm

    nice post, in this list we can see the changing of graphic design in movie poster, and it’s get better and better

  15. Jennifer says

    February 9, 2010 at 10:58 pm

    Excellent array of styles and trends through the decades!

  16. Poonit Patel says

    February 9, 2010 at 11:57 pm

    Very nice collection of posters…nice post……….

  17. best buy dvds says

    February 23, 2010 at 10:24 pm

    wow… amazing nice collection!

  18. Bill Pressman says

    November 12, 2010 at 5:39 am

    Toy story 3 – the greatest

  19. utah dentist says

    December 12, 2010 at 4:14 pm

    Great collection of posters here sir. SHREK 1 to 3 loved it. and my kids also haha

  20. ColeTrain says

    January 9, 2011 at 2:56 am

    you can tell how many people/standards where working on these as time goes by…. At the begining they feel like gig posters,. at the end they feel like movie posters. It just goes to show how much influence there is outside the designer and how much more money and hierarchy each one of these posters are endorsing and contributing to.

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