Movie Poster Art:
A Brief History

Distributors of movies are the companies, which either produce movies or buy distribution rights from others, and then arrange for the movies to be placed in movie theaters, on television, and on video.

In the 1940s, the only venue as a practical matter was the movie theater.

The distributors or their advertising agencies created various sizes and types of movie advertising materials to publicize each movie.

The materials were never sold separately, but were printed for the distributor who generally turned them over to various service companies who then sent packets of posters and press kits to theaters in advance of scheduled screenings. The press kit could be a single page, a fold over four page, or a mini-magazine format, with a synopsis and credits for the movie.

Black and white (B&W) line drawings in various sizes could also be sent to the local newspapers for printing, and often suggestions to the theater about contests that could be run, or with preprinted reviews for the local movie review column. Occasionally, there were elaborate color cover pages, which are considered works of art.

Included in the press kit were color posters in a wide range of sizes, designed to fit into standardized display frames both outside and inside the movie theaters. The posters were almost always in eye-catching color, even if the movies being advertised were in black and white.