OMG, I can’t believe that I have a movie poster that sells for almost $500! And that’s just one of about 75 different posters I have packed away in a box in my garage. One of the fringe benefits of working in a movie theater for about 10 years!
For me, the teaser posters for Batman and Dick Tracy were kind of cool from a graphics standpoint. Of course, I would think that the most appropriate poster to get your brother would be one for a movie that has some significance to him.
An obscure movie, but one with a fan-base, whose poster I have framed both because I loved the movie and I love the poster, is the French Canadian film JESUS OF MONTREAL.
http://www.madphat.com/mpmania/product324.html
The poster to the finest sequel ever made. (After Aliens, that is.)
I see what you mean. This one is just wonderfully creepy.
I think Young Frankenstein is worth a mention.
Clearly, these are the best posters 
**Eraserhead:
Metropolis:
http://www.poster-pictures.com/Poster-Pictures-Metropolis.html
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari:
http://www.dhm.de/lemo/objekte/pict/pli04675/index.html
**
Quick question, off the bat: Stoid, is your Sin of Nora Moran poster an original one-sheet? If so, WOW. Never seen the film, myself, but it is a classic, and although Zita Johann was apparently a total wacko, she looks pretty good there… One of my faves is Love Before Breakfast. I’m not even a huge Lombard fan, but that artwork… hummina hummina. The original poster for Fritz Lang’s “M” is pretty amazing, too.
As far as the OP goes, I’d recommend going on eBay or hitting up a store or convention that specializes in this kind of stuff, and looking for original posters rather than reprints. Personally, I know that I can’t afford original posters of the big-name movies, so rather than buy cheesy reprints, I’ve bought a number of posters (lobby cards, actually, which are like mini-posters illustrated with photos) for more obscure movies, most of which I haven’t seen. For example, I’m a huge Vincent Price fan, and while I can’t afford an original one-sheet for, say, The Fly or The Fall of the House of Usher, I could easily shell out for a bunch of lobby cards from The Conqueror Worm, one of Vincent’s less-famous flicks (but still a great one).
Lobby cards were released in sets, so a nice gift might be a few cards for a cool-sounding movie (or one which starred one of the giftees favorite actors), in nice frames. Speaking as a graphic artist who is a huge cinema buff, I would much rather get a weird, off-beat piece of art than the same cheap Scarface poster that half of my freshman dorm taped to the cinderblocks over their cots. Clearly, that’s just MHO, of course.
The one-sheets for the following films always caught my fancy:
Yessongs
Paper Moon
MAS*H
2001: A Space Odyssey ( the A Sheet )
You guys all know that if you leave your name with a theater manager requesting a poster currently on display, you’ll usually get it for free when it comes down, right? The obvious exceptions would be anything Disney or Star Wars related. (Star Wars stuff is returned to Lucasfilms and theaters are fined if they can’t come up with the stuff later.)
The greatest movie poster of all time is, without a doubt, the movie poster for Shallow Hal.
And I’m not saying that just because it’s the only movie poster I’ve ever made the effort to acquire. I’m saying that because Shallow Hal is the greatest movie of this millennium.
A bit campy, I admit, but I think the cracked doll face of WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? poster is a keeper.
Speaking as a former theater assistant manager, it is unlikely that you’ll get a poster this way. Of course, that depends on the poster. You’ll probably get it only if: a.) a manager doesn’t want it; b.) an assistant manager doesn’t want it; or c.) a staff member doesn’t want it. But if you have your heart set on that poster for Gigli, go ahead and leave your name at the box office.
And the Lucasfilms thing must be a more recent issue. There was never any problem that I know of when I got my Return of the Jedi poster in 1983.
Heavens no! Originals of that poster run $10,000 or more. It’s a reproduction, but I love it for its beauty alone. I found it when I was searching through a movie poster site for art for my new house. I had marked about a hundred posters to re-review and re-sort to decide which were the best, then I saw that one and the others just fell away.
Wasn’t a problem either when I was given a Revenge Of The Jedi poster by a 20th Century Fox publicity person…in 1983. Heh. Heh.
The full shipment of one-sheets was recalled and destroyed because of the title change.
Almost the full shipment. I haven’t actually seen the darned thing in years, it’s in a controlled storage facility deep underneath Cheyenne Mountain.
Cartooniverse
I love the poster for High Fidelity, and not just because I love the movie and John Cusack.
Yeah, the Lucasfilms thing is recent as of the Phantom Menace. Apparently people were taking all the stuff home without even displaying it, which misses the point of advertising entirely, heh.
In my experience as a manager, most everyone who works at a theater is sick of movies after six months or so and doesn’t give a rat’s ass about having a poster of anything, or already has an entire garage-full and can’t take anymore. Worth a shot is all I’m saying; it depends on the poster and the theater, really. Someplace to start for people who are intimidated by prices on eBay, etc.
Im going to have to second Metropolis, any true fan of science fiction film has to pay homage to it’s great grandfather.
While we’re on Fritz Lang, I second whoever mentioned the poster for M:
