From time to time, movie studios and/or independent
printers will honor a particular film by releasing what is known as an "Anniversary
Poster," marking a milestone in time for a classic movie. For example,
posters were issued for the 50th anniversary of Casablanca
and the 20th anniversary of Star
Wars. These posters are generally printed in limited numbers (some
or actually individually numbered) and are released to the public for
sale. This is where an anniversary issue differs from a "reissue/rerelease
". A reissue/rerelease is issued by the studio directly to the theatre
and is not for public sale. However, there have been exceptions.
In the case of Disney’s Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs for example, the studio issued a one sheet
which contained the banner "50th Anniversary. Disney issued
this poster for advertising purposes only to coincide with the reissue/rerelease
of the film to the theatres and it was not for sale to the public. In this
case, it would be considered a "reissue/rerelease" and not an anniversary,
even though it contains the 50th Anniversary banner. Disney then
licensed the poster for a commercial issue to
the public.
Because anniversary issues are by their nature
a testament to a particular major film, they normally contain beautiful artwork.
Some are even printed on gold or silver mylar.
There have been occasions where anniversary issues will contain artwork that
was created at the time the film was initially made but for whatever reason
not used at the initial release. This is true in the case of the poster released
for the a 10th anniversary for the Return
of the Jedi, regular issue.
While anniversary issues by definition do
not fall into the category of "legitimate movie art," they are very
desirable to certain collectors for several reasons:
Only "movie classics" are honored
by an anniversary issue. Since original paper on most of these classics is
extremely rare and expensive, the anniversary posters give movie fans an affordable
alternative. In most instances, these anniversary posters are more beautiful
than the original poster and are released in limited numbers to give them
a collectible value. Quite often they are individually numbered (somewhere
on the poster, most likely the bottom right hand corner.) classifying them
as limited edition.
