The movie poster is an afterthought in modern Hollywood. Numerous marketing and advertising executives use the need for representation of all opinions as justification for their employment, which results in the loss of any interesting or provocative ideas. We can all recall this, right? Then what?
Of course, there are exceptions to the rule of current movie posters being uniform. While some movie posters do have creative worth, the proportion has substantially decreased over time. The legendary posters of the past, however, have all but disappeared, and in one instance, that is quite literally the case.
Roger Kastel, the artist who created the iconic poster for Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, claims that his original 20 by 30 inch painting vanished about the time the movie was released. Below, you can read more about the Jaws poster image.
TheCollector’s Society’s examination into Jawsart’s past may be found on Gizmodo. Everything is there, including the idea’s origins in the hardcover book authored by Peter Benchley, Kastel’s more in-depth version, and the countless parodies and rip-offs that have appeared over the years.
The most intriguing fact comes from this brief passage, though:
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The picture by Kastel vanished at some point. Kastel recalls his final view of the about 20 by 30 inch painting. He explains, “It was on display at the Society of Illustrators in New York.” “Because it was on a book tour and later travelled to Hollywood for the movie, it was falsely accused. It never returned despite my expectations that it would.”
Wendell Minor, in the image, states categorically, “It was stolen.” “Somewhere in Hollywood, it is hung. I’ve experienced the same thing before, where a piece of art will vanish and then turn up on eBay or another website. Today, such piece of art would be pretty valuable.”
They assigned it a worth of at least $20,000, per an appraiser in the story. I can nearly bet that the original painting for the Jawsposter would sell for significantly more as someone who collects considerably less famous and priceless art. It’s not just a big painting; it’s also among the most well-known pictures in movie history. A fan of Jaws or a movie buff with some cash probably wouldn’t bat an eye at spending a hundred times as much.
Will the artwork ever surface again? I have my doubts. Whoever acquired it in the late 1970s undoubtedly has it proudly hanging in their home. You might like to believe that it belongs to Steven Spielberg or the Shaw family, but in a strange twist of fate, it’s probably owned by one of the aforementioned Hollywood marketing or advertising professionals who have completely eliminated the artistic element from movie posters.
