With Spider-Man: Brand New Day swinging into cinemas this month, there's been a mighty controversy over a "dystopian" BMW Spider-Man advert beamed into vehicles' dashboards. At the same time, a much less high-tech marketing asset is going down a storm.
A small Canadian cinema didn't receive its delivery of Spider-Man Brand New Day posters to put up in its foyer. With nothing to display in the 'now screening' box, it resorted to a homemade solution: a member to staff was asked to draw a poster for the movie by hand.
The resulting design is now spinning such a web on social media that some are calling for prints to be made. Could it accidentally be one of the best movie posters of the year?
The poster in our theatre for Brand New Dayfrom r/marvelstudios
On display at the Cineplex Famous Players cinema in Prince George, British Colombia, the handmade Spider-Man poster shows Spidey throwing devil horns, along with a hand-lettered title. At the bottom, the member of staff responsible has written an apology explaining the reason for the unofficial artwork.
"We didn't get the poster in due to shipment issues, so my boss asked me to draw it, so I did. Never expected it to get this big," the artist has responded on the Reddit post above.
The Cineplex employee added that the cinema was going to look into getting the official poster printed locally, but they're having second thoughts now that their own design has taken off. "[We] kinda can't rn as the movie is still in and we need the poster there because it's famous now," the artist says.
Many Marvel fans have praised the creativity, with some suggesting that it has more personality than the official posters (see below for comparison).
The cinema's depiction of Spider-Man is being compared to the viral MS Paint Spooderman meme (below). It also reminds me of the impressionistic charm of Ghanaian movie posters.
There have long been complaints that movie posters all look the same. The viral popularity of the Canadian cinema's Spider-Man artwork shows how people crave more creative and original aesthetics even if they don't necessarily show what the movie looks like. It's also great advertising for a friendly neighbourhood cinema.
Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, Spider-Man: Brand New Day also stars Tom Holland and Zendaya. You can watch the trailer below.
