Like trailers, movie posters are marketing materials to put butts in seats for movies and one could argue—with the fragmenting nature of streaming and the downtrends of movie theatergoing—that movie posters aren’t as important as they once were to pop culture and movie-going culture. That said, we still love ‘em, especially the artful, more visually dynamic ones that aren’t afraid to do more than put a bunch of floating heads on a poster to sell the cast of a movie.
2023 Fall Film Preview: 60+ Most Anticipated Movies To Watch
Posters vary in quality, and obviously, many of the mainstream film ones are pretty basic, sometimes overtly colorful to the point of being garish, and don’t even get us get us started on characters posters (especially the ones for, like, the 10th character actor on the call sheet that while we love and all, might not really warrant a full poster to themselves). But there’s always beauty swimming against the tide of the generic deluge, and those are the ones that are always near and dear to our hearts.
So as our Best Of 2023 coverage starts (and Most Anticipated 2024 coverage, too), let’s look at what we subjectively feel are the best, most visually arresting posters and posterity imagery of 2023.
Follow along with all our Best Of 2023 coverage here.
20. “Dream Scenario”
Starring Nicolas Cage, produced by Ari Aster and directed by Kristoffer Borgli (“Sick Of Myself“), this black comedy fantasy film centers on a hapless man whose life is turned upside down when millions of strangers suddenly start seeing him in their dreams, this turns into a nightmarish existence, and he has to grapple with stardom. The main poster is minimalist and underwhelming, but the French version, featuring Nicolas Cage falling out of the sky, and the third version, a 4-quad illustrated version of Cage entering a variety of different surrealist dreams, is just really amusing, engaging, fits the bill well.
19. “May December”
An artful director like Todd Haynes always has artful imagery accompanying his moving dramas. His latest is an intriguing melodrama about a May/December romance. Twenty years after their notorious tabloid romance gripped the nation, a married couple (Julianne Moore and Charlie Melton, some thirty-something years her junior) buckles under pressure when an actress (Natalie Portman) arrives to do research for a film about their past. This Cannes poster speaks to the cracks that begin between the characters, specifically Portman and Moore, when the former begins to investigate her life. With some allusions to Ingmar Bergman’s “Persona” (always a classic reference), the stark red imagery also speaks to the emotional alarm the plot of the story creates for the characters.
18. “Showing Up”
Kelly Reichardt’s luminous “Showing Up” is an intriguing film about the quirkiness of artists, art, art communities, creation, the difficulties of trying to carve out a living dedicated to artistry and all those in our community who are there for us, and sometimes aren’t; showing up for us in life, and sometimes to our art openings. Michelle Williams stars as the sculptor preparing to open a new show, attempting to work amidst the daily dramas of family and friends, and this poster depicting Williams’ curious-looking face, wondering, contemplating, and considering life while her vivid-looking sculptures surround her face captures the tone of all of in simple, but super captivating fashion.
17. “Paint”
It’s an IFC comedy starring Owen Wilson, who stars as Vermont’s #1 public TV painter who is convinced he has it all until a younger, rival painter arrives on the scene and disrupts his life. The character is obviously based on, and an homage to the dulcet tones and soothing landscape paintings of Bob Ross, and this poster, designed by GrandSon and painted by Rebecca Schwartzstein, is just perfect.
16. “John Wick: Chapter 4”
If you had to celebrate one blockbuster or mainstream movie of 2023 with the best set of posters, the honor should definitely go to “John Wick Chapter 4” (and to be fair, they commissioned a whole “artists series” of posters, so there’s many more than usual to pick from and they go hard). That said, even the main poster, featuring Keanu Reeves‘ face staring straight ahead at the viewer, is super imposing. There are just too many to choose from, so we’ll highlight our four faves. One from illustrator Yuko Shimizu done in a kind of anime style, the Ed Fairburn version, which speaks to the tangled web nature of Paris and its subway system, the colorful Yann Couedor edition, and the dark cathedral version by Alice X. Zhang. All of it is terrific work (see more here), and you kinda wish more studios went this route.
, let’s look at what we subjectively feel are the best, most visually arresting posters.){kind=link}