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A movie poster is more than just an announcement of an upcoming film. It has to awaken your interest, hook you in, and make you curious enough to go and see the movie. To put it simply, posters have the task of selling the film to you in just one image. But with time, they have grown beyond this goal as well. 

Some of the best movie posters have inspired a whole aesthetic of decorating your home or place of business, especially coffee shops and bakeries. It’s always fun to enter someone’s house or a new cafe and try to count how many of the displayed movies you have seen. You can also tell a lot about the owner’s taste in cinema based on the posters they display. Vintage movie posters have even become valuable collectibles, with cinephiles all over the world trying to get rare posters into their possession. 

But while great movie posters are a form of art of their own, things happen, and bad movie posters also come to exist. Why do they happen? Reasons may vary from somebody just being a bad designer to not really knowing what the movie is about. Why such movie posters get approved is a whole different story, but at least they provide us with a reason to laugh, especially if you have actually seen the movie. 

In this article you will find quite a few examples of bad poster design. Which one looks the ugliest to you? Don’t forget to vote for it. Share this article with your friends, and show us in the comments other strange, unappealing, or downright bad movie posters you have seen.   

#1

Cujo

Cujo movie poster

"The Ghanaian poster for Cujo is possibly amazing instead."

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#3

Top Dog

Top Dog movie poster

Flint_Vorselon replied:
"Please tell me the dog was the brains of the operation."

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#4

The Penthouse

The Penthouse movie poster

Prince-of-Ravens replied:
"Pretty sure every single thing in that poster comes from a stock photo site."

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#6

Spanish Poster For Chef Movie

Spanish Poster For Chef Movie movie poster

User No 1 replied:
"Jesus. I couldn't even recall Robert Downey Jr. being in Chef. Was he in it for like a single scene or something?"

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#7

X-Men: First Class

X-Men: First Class movie poster

SUBLIMINAL__MESSAGES replied:
"It should've just been the silhouettes, the faces are such a horrendous idea they should've never made it past the planning phase."

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#8

Grown UPS 2

Grown UPS 2 movie poster

FireTigerThrowdown replied:
"Wonderful posters. Hurr durr, grown men sure are infantile manchildren while women are joyless mother figures."

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#9

Finding Normal

Finding Normal movie poster

"I don't even remember where I saw this, but it took me no time at all to realize it's the worst one I've ever seen."

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Sam Juan
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm guessing someone looked at the original cover, then said "It needs more cow"

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#10

My Ghost Dog

My Ghost Dog movie poster

"I work in health care and some of the movies that we get are these christian movie house films to show to elderly or kids and you're just like "Dude this movie looks like it'll make them feel worse." So we always end up buying the latest movies and keeping them in rotation for people to watch."

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#11

Left Behind

Left Behind movie poster

criminalsunrise replied:
"That looks like Nicholas Cage's face on John Travolta's body... hold on, that'd make a great film!"

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Nice Beast Ludo
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Weird as the movie itself... not as strange as the kirk Cameron trilogy though

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#12

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home movie poster

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Joe Bloe
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Looks like two gay dudes travelling times, but they got into a cartoon world!

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#13

Love Never Dies

Love Never Dies movie poster

becauseican95 replied:
"The poster's bad. The title's worse."

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ЛеснойКороль(ForestKing)H/H
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

as a musician, hear me out (or just skip to the bottom): 1. her bow is too short, never mind the completely sacrilegious way she’s holding it (NEVER TOUCH THE BOW HAIR). 2. where on earth is her chinrest? It looks like a viola, it’s way to big to be a violin, but i’m assuming they were trying to have her play violin. 3. the photoshop is atrocious, and 4. those fine tuners are disgusting- she would never get a decent sound with those huge metal tuners on her tailpiece. RESEARCH, PEOPLE! please, i beg you- just ask any musician and we’d be so happy to help with any of this

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#16

Hit By Lightning

Hit By Lightning movie poster

DQ11 replied:
"Still though it is almost worth mentioning twice.
3 very obvious separate pictures attempted to be pieced together + fake gun arm... just odd. Somebody got paid money for this... and then probably got another job after, and got paid for that too."

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#17

Zyzzyx Road

Zyzzyx Road movie poster

jer706 replied:
"This movie grossed a total of literally $30 in the box office on a $1.2 million budget."

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Fat Harry
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It grossed $30 because they intentionally limited it to one showing per day at one single cinema in Texas. The production team wanted the US release to be after the foreign release, but in order to meet criteria set by the Screen Actors' Guild they had to do the US release first.

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#18

Shaggy The Dog

Shaggy The Dog movie poster

"They put his eyes on a dog and it's just creepy."

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#19

The Accidental Husband

The Accidental Husband movie poster

isorx0932 replied:
"Please tell me this isn't real. Was this done in Microsoft paint?"

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#21

Good Luck Chuck

Good Luck Chuck movie poster

"Everything about this poster is wrong."

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DennyS (denzoren)
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Jessica Alba yes, Dane Cook 100% no, I can't even comprehend how he's considered to be funny.

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#24

Contraband

Contraband movie poster

"Mark Wahlberg looks like he is scratching his back and doing a terrible job of hiding the money strapped to his waist."

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#28

A Good Day To Die Hard

A Good Day To Die Hard movie poster

pitaenigma replied:
"I will not have that movie spoken ill of. It is the world's greatest nap movie. I have never sat through it without falling asleep ten minutes in, and waking up to a helicopter exploding is glorious. I fell asleep to it in movie theaters, I fell asleep to it when I pirated it, and I fell asleep to it when it was on TV. I never fall asleep to movies, but that film is fucking Nyquil to me. So don't talk ill about it. I'm an insomniac and this is the only cure."

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Dana Trahan
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh man I love the statement IT IS NYQUIL TO ME. so funny 😂 😂😂😂😂😂

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#29

Avengers: Age Of Ultron

Avengers: Age Of Ultron movie poster

User No 1 said:
"It's pretty much a running joke by now that Marvel team up movies have bad posters. Nothing to qualify as the worst by any measure, but just completely uninspired photoshop hack jobs. The solo movies tend to have decent ones, but the Avengers movies and Civil War had some bad ones."
 
A_Dog_Chasing_Cars replied:
"I'm especially amused by this Age of Ultron one.
'Boss, who do we put on the poster?'
'Everyone!'"

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theincrediblebatcat
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Now hold on, as a marvel fan, I don’t think that looks too bad -ps what do scarlet witch and daredevil have in common? They both lost their vision

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#36

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 movie poster

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Wren Hard
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The photoshop for the poster is almost as bad as the cgi editing in the movie itself. That baby </3

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#37

Takers

Takers movie poster

rocker2014 said:
"Worst photoshopped poster ever."
 
Blinkskij replied:
"I love Idris Elba, but I'm fairly sure he's not an actual light source."
 
VictorBlimpmuscle also replied:
"Paul Walker's head looks like it's photoshopped onto a black man's neck."

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#39

All About Steve

All About Steve movie poster

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JL
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

At first I thought she was holding a blood soaked machete. From the looks of this poster, that would have improved this movie.

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#42

Grudge Match

Grudge Match movie poster

"There's one for a film called something like Grudge Match, with an incredibly poorly photoshopped De Niro and Stallone on it. That one is a big contender for me."

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#43

The Trust

The Trust movie poster

sunshinecid replied:
"Why are Elijah Wood's hands SO big?"

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#44

Stolen

Stolen movie poster

jumpbreak5 replied:
"Still blows my mind that this movie actually happened. It really does look like it was based on a photoshopped movie poster made by a redditor."

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#45

Exodus: Gods And Kings

Exodus: Gods And Kings movie poster

whendoesOpTicplay replied:
"I feel like it was a poor attempt at hiding that the "Egyptians" were being played by two white dudes."

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#49

Mamas's Boy

Mamas's Boy movie poster

Redditor said:
"I can't believe that I saw the movie, it makes me despise Jon Heder."
 
Cyclops_ replied:
"I like Jon Heder. I feel like I must see this. I believe it'll be terrible, and not in the cool way. I feel like I vaguely remember it coming out, but then again I can't even imagine one shot."

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theincrediblebatcat
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The man looks like he’s just seen someone get murdered and I don’t even know if the girl on the right is a love interest or a badly casted mom

#52

Heavy Petting

Heavy Petting movie poster

PedosoKJ replied:
"How hard would it have been to get the dog to lick her face?"

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#54

I Am Wrath

I Am Wrath movie poster

dugpdcv said:
"Damn, the guy looks like Liam Hemsworth on the poster."
 
Afrasher replied:
"Looks like they photoshopped the top half of John Travolta's face onto the body of Arnie's Terminator."

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#55

USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage

USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage movie poster

Hoogs replied:
"Nic looks about 80 years old in that photo."

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#56

Bangkok Dangerous

Bangkok Dangerous movie poster

"Whats his arm doing, looks like he's doing a bad magic trick & also FLAMES & stuff."

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#58

Daddy Day Care

Daddy Day Care movie poster

PineappleSlices replied:
"Watch how many children I can fit up my a**."

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#61

Gulliver’s Travels

Gulliver’s Travels movie poster

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Gémeaux jumeaux
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Don't let these Lilliputians get you down, Jack. 🎶Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches...

#65

The Babysitter

The Babysitter movie poster

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#67

Brother Nature

Brother Nature movie poster

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not your average weirdo
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This looks like a movie that I would walk in on my parents watching because my uncle recommended it to them and kept making references to

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#75

Juliet, Naked

Juliet, Naked movie poster

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DennyS (denzoren)
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've never seen this movie but it's got Ethan Hawke, Rose Byrne and Chris O'dowd so I'm definitely gonna watch it. Lol

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#79

Changeling

Changeling movie poster

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Miss Tinker
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A great movie about an incredible true story: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Collins The real Christine Collins looked nothing like Angelina Jolie but the movie would not have been made with out her, hence the poster focussing on her!

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#82

There Will Be Blood

There Will Be Blood movie poster

"It's also the current IMDb cover pic for the film, while the previous one was one of the best film posters I've ever seen."

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#85

Thor: The Dark World

Thor: The Dark World movie poster

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theincrediblebatcat
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I’m a marvel fan so I’m a little biased but the only thing I see wrong with it is Jane Foster’s (woman in the middle) expression

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