Kill Or Be Killed

Warning

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander visitors are advised that listings on this website contain images and names (by way of posters or photographs) of people who have since died.

Grading Guide

When listing a poster we use the guide below to provide you with a fair assessment of the posters condition. Please bear in mind that this is genuine ‘theatre used’ advertising material and it will inevitably show some sign of use and its age.

If a poster has been linen backed (see FAQ’s) we will grade it as per its current condition and endeavor to highlight any flaws it may have had prior to the backing/restoration process.

Please feel free to contact us should you require a more detailed condition report.

MINT: To achieve this grade a poster would have to be totally flawless, no markings or creasing of any kind whatsoever (inclusive of oily fingerprints on high gloss examples). It is highly unlikely you would find a poster that will truly achieved this grade.

NEAR MINT: A poster that is virtually unused. This is generally the highest grade that you will find film posters listed, this allows for minor edge dings and creasing to the surface.

FINE: A poster showing light wear. It will show signs of use, such as pin/staple holes to the corners, edge dings/creasing, surface creasing/marks and minor wear to the fold lines.

VERY GOOD: A poster that is well used but still presentable. It may exhibit staining, creasing, scuffs/wear, discoloration, slight fold separation, small tears, increased number of staple marks, increased level of fold wear compared to ‘Fine’ and minor paper loss. For older posters, there may also be minor bleed-thru of a stamp, mark or writing applied to the back of the poster.

GOOD: A poster that is heavily used, which can have significant tears/paper loss, an excessive number of pin/staple holes, significant fold separation and tears, tape or tape marks to the front and repair tape to the rear. There may also be staining/soiling, discolouration or light fading.

FAIR – POOR: A poster with very significant use/damage, which would require extensive restoration to achieve a presentable appearance, or even a possible candidate for cannibalization to repair an identical poster of a higher grade.

Rolled vs Folded

Prior to the early 1990’s the vast majority of posters were distributed to theatres folded. A small minority were shipped rolled, usually US ‘Studio Style’ examples and it is these that are most desired by collectors who are seeking a poster for display.

US Studio/NSS/International Versions

Studio versions were printed during a films initial release directly by the film studios themselves. These were destined for promotional purposes or gifted to cast/crew and are usually identical to NSS examples. They are nearly always found rolled, and for this reason they are considered highly desirable.

NSS versions can be found from just prior to WW2 up until the mid 80’s. They were contracted to print/distribute the majority of all film posters in the US (also some destined for the international markets) and their work is instantly recognizable by the unique coding system (NSS Number) which adorns every title that they printed, whether this be printed on the lower border or stamped on the rear.

International versions were still printed in the US, but destined for the foreign market. These examples would usually be missing the ratings information, as what may be classed as a PG in the US may be something different in the UK. Sometimes International versions have unique artwork and for this reason can be highly sought after.

Advance/Teasers

As their name suggests, Advance posters usually appear well in advance of the films release and will hint at its release date, for instance “coming soon” or “December”. Where as a Teaser poster will generally show very little at all, perhaps just the films title (as seen on the recent Star Wars Rogue One teaser). These posters are usually produced in far less numbers than general release posters and for that reason are sought after by collectors.

Single/Double Sided

The vast majority of film posters are printed single sided, however in the 1990’s theatres began using light boxes to display them and for this reason most modern film posters are printed on both sides to allow the light to ‘punch’ through and make the image pop.

Re-releases

As the name suggests a ‘re-release’ poster was used to promote a film at the time of it’s re-release. These posters are still very much classed as ‘authentic’ film posters and in some cases the artwork may be more appealing than the original release. This is evident in films such as ‘Easy Rider’, with its 1972 re-release poster (showing the iconic image of 2 choppers riding side by side) commanding higher prices than the original 1969 release poster of Peter Fonda. One franchise which has had multiple re-releases is the original Star Wars trilogy, although the original artworks are in high demand, with the re-launch of the franchise by Disney, a surge of interest in many of the re-release posters (particularly for The Empire Strikes Back) has been noted, examples of some of these posters can be found here.

Lobby Cards

Lobby cards are yet another method used by studios & theaters to advertise the film and their use can be traced back to the early 1900’s. They’re usually found in two sizes 11″ x 14″ and ‘mini cards’ at 8″ x 10″ (these are also referred to as ‘front of house’ cards). Each set would consist of 8 cards (occasionally even 10 or 12) with older titles including a ‘title’ card within that number. Some major productions would even warrant the use of jumbo cards which measured a whopping 14″ x 17″. Sadly lobby cards are no long used anymore, however due to them depicting key actors and scenes from each movie they are considered extremely collectible and sadly for this reason are heavily bootlegged/reproduced by criminals and sold as authentic pieces on sites such as eBay on a daily basis. One sure way to spot a bootleg is how ‘minty white’ some of the 70’s & 80’s titles are, almost as if they were printed yesterday (because they likely were). We only source our lobby cards from respected collectors or old theatre employees/owners and don’t mind so much that many of them show actual signs of use, such as multiple pin holes or yellowing. Another thing that makes these cards attractive to collectors is their size, as most department stores sell ‘off the shelf’ picture frames which fit lobby cards perfectly, negating the need for expensive ‘custom’ frames to display your collection.

Daybills

Daybills were without doubt the most common format/size of film poster used within New Zealand. The vast majority of these were printed in Australia, with the very odd exception being locally produced in New Zealand (this was often only the case if the local Distributor had run out of Australian daybills). Sadly the artwork on New Zealand produced examples was far inferior to Australia, although on the very rare occasion an NZ daybills artwork would be deemed so bad, that its quirkiness made it rather good, although you’d almost need to squint to come to this conclusion.

Australian daybill’s destined for NZ use would also usually be printed without the local Australian rating and a New Zealand rating stamp would be applied upon arrival by the distributor. However due to demand, this was often not the case and large (often unsightly) paper snipes were used to cover the Australian rating.

Censorship

New Zealand’s censorship guidelines were far stricter than that of the UK, United States and Australia. Therefore much like Ireland, poster artwork that depicted too much naked flesh, general violence, prohibited weapons, violence detected towards the police, scenes of a sexual nature or indeed suggestive text, were all heavily censored. Whether that involved painting clothes on bikini clad ‘Bond girls’, deleting the chain on Bruce Lee’s nunchucks (to convert them into two separate sticks) or covering risqué words with black paint, NZ movie posters of the 1950’s – 1970’s often show the signs of a very conservative past.