Patterns exist everywhere in nature, from the randomness of snowflakes, to the meticulousness of serial killers. The patterns behind a routine 9-5 job maximize efficiency perhaps, but require very little ingenuity to get the job done. And then some patterns appear to exist out of sheer unoriginality - such as animated children’s movie posters from the last ten years. It exists beyond just that as well, but there’s only so much time in a day you spend looking at the same thing over and over and still call it entertainment.
It’s not as though we didn’t think that many low-quality kids’ movies were formulaic anyway, but Twitter user SleepySkunk has pointed out the ways that all the major studios show a lack of imagination just when it comes to designing marketing materials for their biggest animated money-makers. I understand nobody is going to out-design Saul Bass on these things, but one wonders about the standards behind promoting things to children. Feast your eyes on the TV dinner displays below.
Besides his getting a little picky with the Boston and Asian descriptions (what's an Asian peace sign?), hopefully for studios this is like getting caught cheating in class and then being presented with the evidence. Clearly showcasing a host of main characters for a first film is advisable, but having everyone running toward the camera is pretty boring in the first place. It’s like they’re trying to remind viewers of other movies that were successful, implanting the suggestion that these movies are just as good. Granted, in the cases of Toy Story 3 and Wreck-it Ralph, those means would be justifiable.
The peace sign for a sequel is as boring as having two main characters standing side by side as the roman numerals. In this case, it makes sense that Alvin and the Chipmunks and Garfield went that route, since those films didn’t have much to showcase on a poster anyway.
I don’t really have anything to say about the raised eyebrow look, because it doesn’t signify anything, so there’s nothing to dispute. It’s just boring.
Poster designers of tomorrow: use these films as a springboard to your success, and use these poster designs to wipe your feet once you get to the top.
