The Best Movie Posters of 2008

By Bert Ehrmann
December 19, 2008

What a year it’s been at the box office. Though there have been a lot of “fun” movies released in 2008, I’d count exactly two movies I saw as being very good and wouldn’t say I’ve seen any great ones. Which is the exact opposite of last year where there were a plethora of great films released during the later part of the year.  

Still, even though the films of 2008 might not have been all that memorable, there were some great posters released to promote the films this year.

(Click on any of the posters for a larger view.)

The best movie poster of 2008 was the teaser poster to the film Iron Man. It was a poster that I found so interesting that it made me want to see a movie I originally had no intention of seeing. I had spent much of the 1990s and the early parts of the ‘00s waiting as entertainment magazines reported that an Iron Man movie was in the works, but never actually seeing any progress on the film all those years.

Then, a few years ago when Iron Man went into production I was taken aback that a guy like John Faverou, who up until that time had only directed one good movie, was picked as the director and a guy like Robert Downey Jr., who up until that time was mostly known as a recovering addict, was set to star as the Shellhead. I was so against the Faverou/Downey Jr. duo heading up Iron Man that I had briefly considered skipping the movie altogether – that was until I saw the teaser poster.

Those realistic pits and scars in the face of the armor really drew me in. I could see that whoever was creating the suit of armor, at least, had done their homework and were striving for a sense of authenticity. And the glow of the eyes was a fanboy’s dream! The poster depicted a suit of armor I had spent a decade yearning for suddenly I couldn’t wait for May 2 and the release of Iron Man. 

The rest of the best, in alphabetical order:
Cloverfield: Other than the fact that the teaser poster for Cloverfield never fully matured into a final poster for the film, I really dug the teaser poster for the movie. I think it does a great job of making passersby stop to checkout the image, pique their curiosity and wonder to themselves “what exactly happened to the Statue of Liberty?”

The Dark Knight: I really liked the The Dark Knight movie and thought that most of the images used to market the movie were pretty nice as well. I especially like how the posters all have a gritty, dangerous look to them while the tagline of one of the posters does a great job of summing up the entire film – “Welcome to a world without rules.”

Diary of the Dead: I think that the poster for Diary of the Dead also does a great job of letting people know what the movie’s about. I especially like the little detail on the view screen of the camera – that the camera’s battery is almost dead. I wonder if that’s a subtle hint as to the fate of the characters in the film? The poster for Diary of the Dead is far better than that of the pervious Geroge Romero zombie flick Land of the Dead (2005).

Strangers: I have to admit that I have yet seen the movie The Strangers, but I still really like the poster for the movie. It harkens back to a simpler time when movie posters were illustrated by hand rather than designed on a computer in Photoshop. (Though it wouldn’t surprise me a bit to learn that Photoshop trickery was used in the creation of this poster!) I’d have to guess that the designers of this poster were aiming at a 1970s “look” to it and in IMHO they hit their mark exactly. Also see the poster for The Bank Job that was slightly edged out by this poster.

Honorable mention – Punisher: War Zone: I can only give this poster an honorable mention because, let’s face it, Frank Castle aka The Punisher would NEVER waste ammo like that!