Ever wonder about the leaps and bounds movie posters have made?
Now leave speculation behind and find out about the cold hard events.
When you first see this title, you're probably wondering how movie posters have a history.
After all, aren't they just pieces of laminated paper with images on it? However, unbeknownst to most,
the movie poster has been the driving force behind the popularity of movies. If not for the advertising
movie posters in the 1930's, then how would people have known which movie was coming out and when was it
going to begin showing? Yes, due to the movie posters, historical movies were made into classic movies.
 
King Kong, 1933
I want more informationa about this movie poster!
Movies in America began to rise during the 1930's. Depression was just ending under President Franklin D.
Roosevelt's New Deal and many of the great films flocked to the movie theaters. King Kong, Gone With the Wind,
and Wizard of Oz were just some of the great movies playing in the movie theaters. Since Depression was ending,
the popularity for movies was rising. In order to get away from the horrible memories of the Depression, many
began to take interest in what was going on in the popular culture. Since the interest in the movie business grew, so did the need for the movie poster advertisements. The film studios were not able to keep up with the demand. That is why they called in the reinforcement.
Due to the ineffectual process of movie advertisement, various film studios teamed up with the National
Screen Service (NSS) to help them produce and distribute movie propaganda to the exhibitors themselves.
This company soon monopolized the movie poster advertisements and products. It was a good partnership until
the independent film studios and NSS didn't see eye to eye. They began to fight legally over who would be able
to sell and distribute movie advertisement products to moviegoers. The independent movie studios won and
NSS backed out of the independent companies.
Gone with the Wind
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The movie posters helped spark audiences interest. There were the movie exhibitors who took care of all the
movie advertisements (including movie posters.) They would jump from town to town, bringing the movie posters
and the film reels with them to the next movie theater. Since there were many movies coming out at the same time,
the movie exhibitors were rushed for movie posters. Due to the lack of movie poster reinforcements, they were
forced to keep the same movie posters. This is why movie posters before the 1940's are rarely seen. During the 1940's,
with World War Two around, many movie posters began to appear in unorthodox manners. There was a lack of paper supply
since much of the paper produced in America went straight to support the troops. Movie posters were posted everywhere,
including behind maps.
NSS stayed one of the major distributors for movie advertisements, They adopted a new system in which there would be
numbers to show the date and the number of the film in that certain year. For example, an NSS number would be denoted
as 50/60. The number 50 would be the year the movie poster came out and the 60 would mean that it was the 60th film that
came out that year. This number shows that the movie poster is vintage. However, there are those movie posters with fake
NSS numbers and there is no way of knowing what is original and what is not. NSS met its downfall during the 1980's.
Because movie theaters changed from single screen to multi-screens, the movie theater did not need as much advertisement.
NSS went out of business.
Now, instead of just advertising, movie posters have become an art collection. The history of movie posters is
beyond belief. Even though movies are still advertised by a single 27 inch by 40 inch poster, the movie posters
sold on the Internet are a form of enjoyment. So relax and enjoy with your movie poster collection. And don't forget,
even movie posters have their history.
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