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The Shape of Water

£350.00

Film

The Shape of Water

Additional information

Year

2017

Size/Type

Special Promotional Movie Poster (measures 17 3/4″ x 26 3/4″)

Country of Origin

Promotional poster created by 20th Century Fox & handed out by Fox Searchlight to industry insiders and studio executives., United States (USA)

Condition

Near Mint; originally rolled (as issued)

Director

Guillermo del Toro

Actor/Actress

Doug Jones, Michael Shannon, Michael Stuhlbarg, Octavia Spencer, Richard Jenkins, Sally Hawkins

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“A Fairy Tale for Troubled Times”

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One of the best looking and finest ‘faux’ film poster’s ever produced…Award winning country of origin (US) movie poster for Guillermo Del Toro’s multi award winning (& nominated) dark sci-fi fantasy movie “The Shape of Water”. A very special promotional piece that was created as a unique ‘gift’ for a lucky few Fox Studio executives and industry insiders. It is a “faux” poster created to look like it is a historical poster created many years ago, showing ‘Anatomy of Homo Piscis’ (which is the creature from the movie), and it is set up like an old fashioned medical anatomy chart from a doctor’s office. The poster itself is printed on a canvas like parchment material that has been artificially “aged” to make it look old. It has wooden stretchers attached to the top and bottom of the poster with screws, and the bottom wood has a metal plate attached to the middle and within the plate ‘Dr. Guillermo del Toro’. There is a string attached to the top piece of wood to allow it to be hung. The poster rolls and comes in a specially made tube designed to hold it which has two stickers attached to it with the name of the movie, the year of “1962” (when the movie is set, the name of the director and “Classified”. Included with the poster is a 8 1/4″ x 11 3/4″ ‘official top secret memo’, printed on artificially aged paper which purports to be a ‘confidential memorandum’ about ‘a new discovery in London’ and describing the recent discovery of a vivisection of a fish-man which confirms that the government was not the ‘first to encounter such a species’. The ends of the tube have a printed space image with “Department of Defense Aerospace Research” in a circle around it. A very special collectible that is surely one of the most elaborate promotional poster packages I have ever seen…it just exudes quality and goes without saying is an incredibly scarce item and represents a truly outstanding piece of original film movie memorabilia.

Trivia: First science fiction fantasy film to win Best Picture at the 2018 Oscars Awards.

 …more detail

Vintage Movie Posters Grading Criteria... read more +

Film Description

The Shape of Water Movie Poster

“Elisa is a mute, isolated woman who works as a cleaning lady in a hidden, high-security government laboratory in 1962 Baltimore. Her life changes forever when she discovers the lab’s classified secret, a mysterious, scaled amphibian creature from South America that lives in a water tank. As Elisa develops a unique bond with her new friend, she soon learns that its fate and very survival lies in the hands of a hostile government agent and a marine biologist.”

Back in the 1950’s we used to watch ‘B’ sci-fi movies like Creature From the Black Lagoon and I Married a Monster From Outer Space, shot on desperately low budgets but satisfyingly scary for their time – more than a little daft. The Shape of Water is a ‘throwback’ to that era

Guillermo del Toro is not new to ‘creature features’ or, as he would prefer to call them, fairy tales for adults. There are some very adult scenes in this movie – a pity in a way since it excludes the younger audience who would be enchanted by it. The theme is not too far removed from Spielberg’s E.T. with Elisa replacing the children captivated (captured, even) by aliens. Michael Shannon‘s brutal facility chief is the equivalent of the Nazi bounty-hunters in an Indiana Jones adventure. There’s also a good-guy professor, and Sally Hawkins has a sassy sidekick in fellow cleaning-lady Octavia Spencer.

For all the wondrous CGI and make-up, the Creature is still visibly an actor (Doug Jones) wrapped in plastic. The budget was clearly awesome. I’m not sure that it really deserves to be getting all these Awards and Nominations. I couldn’t help remembering all those 1950’s sci-fi horrors. Yes, it’s a beguiling fantasy romance but it’s also totally, epically, daft as a bag of lightbulbs.

Vintage Movie Posters Grading Criteria

Mint
A poster that has never been used or displayed and may show the most minor signs of age and wear. The poster should have no holes or tears.

Near Mint
A generally unused poster with fresh, saturated colors. May have minimal tears at folds. Has no significant holes, no paper loss, may have minor tears along edges, may have fine pin holes.

Very Fine
A poster with bright colour and crisp overall appearance. It may have very general signs of use including slight fold separation and fold wear. It may have pin holes or very minor tears. This is the highest grade allowed for a poster that has been restored either on linen or on paper.

Fine
A poster with good colors and overall clean appearance. It may have minor tears small paper loss and minor stains. It may have some fold seperation.

Good
An average poster with overall fresh color. May have tears, minor paper loss, minor hazing. Paper may be brittle due to age, may have minor stains. May have a small amount of writing in an unobtrusive place. May have medium or major restoration.

Fair
A poster with faded colors and brittle paper, showing significant signs of use. May have tears and paper loss. May have tape, writing, stains in image area. In need of restoration or had major restoration.

Poor
A poster that is worn, torn, and/or damaged. May have staining, cracking, dry rot, and/or large tears. May be heavily soiled, may have pieces missing. In need of major restoration.

All photographs and images used on our site are photographs of the actual poster/item you are buying, we do not use stock photographs.

Most Popular Poster Types

US Posters

LOBBY CARD
11 x 14″ printed on heavy stock paper. Used as display in theatre lobbies. Originally made in sets of eight. Some sets have a title card, which contains credits and artwork, essentially a mini-poster. The remaining seven cards are coloured photographic credits and poster artwork showing different scenes from the movie.

WINDOW CARD
14 x 22″ printed on heavy stock paper with the top 4-6 inches usually left blank for the local cinema owner to fill in the cinema and the date it was due to play. Largely discontinued during the 1970’s.

HALF SHEET
22 x 28″ printed on heavy stock paper. The image displayed is normally a smaller version of the main poster, although some do have different artworks and sometimes come in two versions.

INSERT
14 x 36″ printed on heavy stock paper. Inserts usually have the same artwork as a one sheet. Popular with collectors since they are smaller and easier to frame. Normally come tri folded or rolled.

STYLE Y/FORTY BY SIXTY
40 x 60″ printed on heavy stock paper. Rare since they were primarily used for major motion pictures only. Designed to be used outside the theatre, on an easel, normally at a drive-in movie theatre.

ONE-SHEET
27 x 41″ printed on paper. This is the most common size of poster, intended to be displayed in a glass “marquee” case. It is the most sought after size by collectors. Since the 1980’s most posters are sent to the theatre rolled and maybe slightly smaller measuring 27″ by 40″ and with the advent of backlit light boxes a growing number of modern movie posters are available double-sided and the more traditional single-sided.

THREE-SHEET
41 x 81″ printed on paper. These were printed on two or three separate sheets designed to overlap, few survive. Used for larger advertising spaces, normally posted on walls, perfect for huge movie theatres the drive-in, where people could see them from a distance. From the 1970’s on, three-sheets were sometimes printed in one piece and issued as “international” versions to be used abroad.

BRITISH Posters

BRITISH QUAD
30 x 40″ Most common poster size used in the UK. British Quads are horizontal and may have different artwork to the US one sheet. Like a US one sheet they normally come in two versions. Like a US one sheet they are usually supplied single-sided or more commonly now as a double sided poster.

BRITISH ONE-SHEET
27 X 40″, printed on paper. Very rarely used size.

ITALIAN Posters

ITALIAN LOCANDINA
13 x 28″ six inches shorter than the US insert, very nice size to frame. Italian poster illustrators are some of the best in the industry.

ITALIAN PHOTOBUSTA
18 x 26″ Glossy, high quality, used as lobby cards in Italy. Size may vary, either vertical or horizontal format. There are also double Photobusta or mini Photobusta.

2-FOGLIO (DUE)
(DUE): 39 x 55″ This is the standard poster size used in Italy. Italian poster illustrators are some of the best in the industry.

4-FOGLIO
(QUATTRO) 55 x 79″ Very large Italian poster printed in two pieces, often contains very beautiful artwork.

FRENCH Posters

FRENCH
47 x 63″ (GRANDE) or 24 x 33″ (PETITE) French movie posters normally come with different artwork to either the US or the UK. Like the Italian’s some of the artwork is extrememly beautiful.