Hollywood loves to advertise its product but the marketing campaigns for many films fall flat or fail to inspire. Not the case with "The Wolverine" (opening July 26 throughout San Diego).
Movie poster seems to have fallen into a dull rut. Gone are the brilliant tag lines of yore. Instead we get big close up shots of stars with big text over their faces. Gorgeous artwork like that by Drew Struzan is rare as well. Most of the posters you walk by in a movie theater lobby don't even grab your attention long enough to leave an imprint of what the title is. The poster art -- like too many of the films from Hollywood -- just seem to blur into one dull mass.
But walking down the lobby of the AMC Mission Valley a few months back a teaser poster for Marvel's "The Wolverine" caught my eye. In fact, I immediately started to think of ways to break into the poster case and run off with the one-sheet. Poor Wolverine has not fared well on the big screen although Hugh Jackman's been having fun with the role. This latest film puts the character in Japan and that move has inspired a set of teaser posters for each of the characters done in teh style of a Japanese brush painting. The posters look like textured paper with black and red ink on white and I have to say they are quite breathtaking.
I see the film tonight. I hope it lives up to what these posters promise. This is a rare instance of an ad campaign actually making me more interested in seeing the film.
Enjoy the poster gallery.
