Top 10 Worst/Laziest Movie Posters of All Time...So Far

No I have not titled my review of "Hot Tub Time Machine" wrong and yes I have decided not to review yet therefore this is filler to distract you from that. Basically this topic has been on my mind for quite some time and I thought it might be fun to look back at some of the worst film posters that have graced cinema walls. For this though I will be excluding films that would not have had the cash to launch credible marketing, so no B-movies or the like will be included on this list. Just pure Hollywood trash that was either very badly designed or just a lazy photoshop job. So get ready and prepare your eyes for the worst movie posters I have ever seen.

#1o - Superman 3

If you care to look at any other "worst posters" lists you will generally find this monstrosity at number 1 but I've dropped it down to 10 simply because the art it's self really isn't that bad. By that I mean the quality of the art not the content. Speaking of the content, that is what puts this on the list. Just think about this for a second...Superman is carrying a terrified Richard Pryor through a canyon. What? While yes Superman III has a ridiculous premise, yes the studio thought that Richard Pryor would boost ticket sales and yes this does happen in the movie near the end...why on Earth would Someone decide that this sequence would be what brought the audience into the movie. Superman fights himself and a super computer in this movie and the most exciting part is supposed to be him kidnapping an African American comedian? I can't imagine how many dreams of a good follow up to Superman II would have been shattered when this poster was released.

What it should have been: Superman fighting Evil Superman with the menacing giant super-computer in the background.

#9 - Wanted

As a film, I love "Wanted". I really do but this poster is damn disgraceful. Why? Well for one, what exactly is the focus of this poster? Is it the fact that Angelina Jolie is a Co-star in it or the fact that there is nothing really exciting happening in this movie? Really this film has some awesome action moments and basically all they want to show you is the very expensive actor they got to be in it (no, not Morgan Freeman) and that there will be guns. Wow guns and an A-List actress! What is even more insulting is how they push James McAvoy into the corner like he's so unimportant to the film. Hey, no he's only the main protagonist he's not important. This is just one of those trends where the studio thinks that the star factor is so important that it is all people will need to go and shell out money to see the movie. Bad Hollywood, Bad.

What it Should Have Been: James McAvoy in the same pose with some exciting things around him.


#8 - Bangkok Dangerous

Y'know that time old tradition when advertising an action film of putting your star looking cool and holding a gun? Well the person who created this mess didn't and decided it would be much more exciting if the star didn't hold a gun and just pretended like they were. perhaps they were some hippie pacifist but whoever they are I hope they got fired for this mess...or at least made to pay up the 4 million dollars this film needed to break even. However I must confess that I haven't seen this 2008 turkey so maybe there is a scene where Nick Cage goes around being shot at while pretending to hold a gun. This the best example of photoshopping run amok, the poster is just messy and unexplained and that is somehow supposed to excite the viewer. I guess it's a current trend to do posters like this but Cage holding thin air is just so silly it looks like a mistake.

What it should have been: The same thing with a gun.


#7 - Jerry Maguire

From this poster alone could someone tell me the story of this film. Sure Tom Cruise must be happy in it (probably from all the money he made) but what is it about? As far as I know there is nothing to this head shot of Tom to tell me why this is a good film or why I should spend my money on it. That's it, I got nothing more on this one.

What it Should Have Been: Anything else, heck even a shot of Cruise yelling into a phone would tell me something about what his character does other than just sit around looking happy.

Oh and what did I say about using the star as the main draw to the film...damn you!



#6 - Old Dogs

Oddly enough I couldn't find an English version of this particular poster, it's so damn lazy that it went to the effort to hide it's self in another language. Why do I hate this so much? three good reasons. First, It doesn't tell the audience a damn thing about the movie other than the fact that somewhere a gorilla comes into the picture. Sure it tells you who it stars but shouldn't a poster tell you that anyway along with something about the plot. Oh yeah hey lets go see that movie where Seth Green gets molested by a gorilla! what the hell were they thinking, at least put a dog or something on the poster. Second is the stance John Travolta is in, it's like he knows in he's in a piece of crap movie and just shrugging it off. Like he doesn't know what he's doing in the poster either, ugh. Finally and really this more a general trend that I'm pissed off with and that's the lazy thing of just putting a white background with the stars. Like that's all we need to know to want to see this film. Case in point "The Break Up Plan", "She's out of my League" and even "Hot Tub Time Machine". That's why this poster and all like it suck.


#5 - The Bourne Ultimatum

What the hell!? Couldn't they decide on which poster they were going to use? Don't get me wrong separately these poster look okay but when have you ever seen a poster that is just clearly two separate posters merged into one? It baffles me that someone somewhere though that this was smart. It's not smart or cool, it's damn lazy and it tells me that you (the studio) don't really give a damn about the promotional material. Heck if you look into it all the posters for this movie range from good to awesome yet the one I most commonly saw was this monstrosity that made about as much sense as putting Richard Pryor on a Superman poster. Even so, one poster is supposed to be in colour and the other is in black and white...why would you combine these two! Why would you combine two separate posters at all!?

What it Should Have Been: Non-existent...which will apply to all of the follow posters.


#4 - Killers


Other than the fact that Kutcher clearly doesn't know what he's doing in this movie I have the same problems with it as with Old Dogs. Well minus the gorilla issue. It's worse than Old Dogs though because it has Ashton Kutcher on it. That's a scientific fact too.


Also Doesn't that purple font just screams "Killers".



#3 - World's Greatest Dad

From what I hear this movie is supposed to be pretty good. huh. I never thought a movie about Robin Williams being crushed by giant letters would be good but...shows what I know. The oddest thing about this poster though is the words "Sundance" and "Robin Williams" being on the same image. Not much to say about this, it just looks silly and I think anyone can see that...




#2 - Ghost Town

Where to start on this one. from the photoshopped looking head of Gervais to the fact that it looks like a dentist is about to give someone a prostate check. So what exactly does the "This is how we do it, baby" have to do with dentists?...or Ghosts? It makes the prostate checking dentist even creepier. Oh look there's another tagline..."Get into the Spirit". Wha?

Not only is this creepy but it is confusing and tells you not a damn thing about the fact that the film has Ghosts in it! Sure it has Ghost in the title but did you see any Ghosts in "Ghost World"? ugh

Oh and once again we have the star and a white background. very creative guys.


#1 - Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.

And there you have it people, the vastly under looked teaser poster for the worst Star Trek movie ever made. Seems the suckage from the film was so powerful that it pulled in even the promotional material. Hell, this a Star Trek film and the poster is about...what exactly? the film will be going so fast that you might fall out of your chair? No that's stupid...Wait It's probably more likely that they wanted to force you to watch the whole film so you can't ask for a refund. Oh yes no one will be walking out on Star Trek V this summer. Well that's what they would have been thinking back in 1989. Also why is the chair floating in space? shouldn't it be in a theatre? The text should read "Why is Captain Kirk attaching seatbelts to chairs and ejecting them into space this Summer?". On a side note I would actually want to know the answer to that question. And...theatres didn't actually put in seatbelts in so...damn this poster is stupid. A stupid poster for a stupid film...no wonder they never let Shatner direct again. Then again what do you expect from the film that gave us this....