I’m not privy to the role or the importance of the movie poster in the marketing of a movie except that it creates a certain level of attention about the said movie. Aside the awareness, what else does the poster contribute? There has been noise about who should appear on a movie poster when a poster is released.
I  know that when an actor is contracted to shoot a movie, he or she after the completion of the movie has no right to ask or expect to be put on the poster. There is no negotiation on that as far as I know.
I got the opportunity to have a look at a movie contract between a producer and an actor and it was stated in the contract that, the actor has no right to oblige the producer or the director to use him on the poster. Whoever is used on the poster is the movie maker’s prerogative.
In a country with high illiteracy rate, majority of the people purchase movies based on two things, at least I have listened and watched people buy movies and the conversations that go on before a purchase indicate so. I have also spoken with movie marketers, vendors as well as distributors on this issue.
One of the determing factors of purchase is that, the names of the actors/actresses in the movie are taken into extensive consideration. Since this is Ghana, it’s not too surprising. The second reason is based on how catchy a movie poster is.
How catchy can a movie promo poster be? In Ghana, a movie that features a favourite actor or actress is considered a good movie even before the movie is bought and watched. Also if the person is not too familiar with the names of the actors, the catchy poster helps such a person to either purchase the movie or otherwise.
Since it’s the right of the movie maker to use whose face he or she believes will sell the movie, why then is it a problem at some quarters?
I have seen lots of movie posters with simple designs with maybe one or two actors on it. And I have also seen big sophisticated and crowded posters with virtually all the cast in the movie on it. In some instances, it includes the producer and the director.
Since we can’t tell a movie maker who should be placed on the movie promo, what posters move you as a consumer?
Is it the simple poster with maybe two actors on it or you fancy the poster with sophisticated designs with virtually all the casts?
If anything, does a poster or art work influence your movie  purchasing decisions?
 Check out some movie posters below:

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