If you've seen X-men: First Class (or even if you've only just seen the trailers) you understand that it's a very stylish looking movie set in the 1960's. But you probably wouldn't know that if you only viewed the poster part of the campaign -- which avoided any period references -- often opting instead for what looked like some very slap dash photoshop work. At first they tried mainly to reinforce the "Before they were Magneto and Professor X...they were Erik and Charles" theme.
I guess this was an attempt at updated minimalism. But an attempt so underwhelming it inspired a contest at Super Punch - where you can
view all the entries. Here are just a few I liked - reflecting the theme and time period without going too minimal.
Meanwhile the trailers were yielding positive buzz. So time to update the poster campaign...hey, lets show the whole cast! Which leads to this...randomly pasting what look like a bunch of cardboard standees of the characters onto a blue X-ish background. All this reminds me of is the opening roll that features the array of contestants on Project Runway. Who will the Next New Mutant Design Star?
Sure this film's unique formula might have been hard to convey, a prequel to the previous X-Men Films but also Franchise Re-Boot at the same time. But there is no excuse for this -- a poorly executed totally generic X-Men poster. A wasted opportunity to do a fresh poster campaign inspired by the period style of the movie, in support of the trailers, that might have actually intrigued potential audiences.
Bonus art found on the web - alt X-Men posters by Phil Noto and Dave Will.
