Movie im-posters

Awful artwork used to promote films in 1980s Ghana

Lame's Bond ... misspelt poster

A GREAT movie poster is often the key to whether a cinemagoer buys a ticket for the latest blockbuster.

Film companies spend hundreds of man hours poring over the finest detail to ensure their posters make the biggest impact.

But out in the sun-drenched countryside of Ghana, in West Africa, a mobile cinema firm has offered its own slant on the traditional box office poster.

From the 1980s, artists instead depicted the Hollywood hits with their own bizarre impressions in a bid to attract more customers to the mobile screenings.


So here’s a selection of 11 of the dodgiest movie posters from Ghana’s mobile cinema collection.

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE

Bad hair day ... Tom Cruise chops and changes

Flash Features

Tom...er...Cruise in a very blue Mission Impossible poster is seen sporting a Donald Trump-esque coiffured barnet and Saturday Night Fever blazer as he emerges from a volcanic eruption.
The pint-sized action hero, with hair now parted, is also shown speeding along on his famous motorbike - or is that Noo Noo from The Tellytubbies?

COMMANDO

Action Man ... Arnie shapes up

Flash Features

Arnie is the original and ultimate blockbuster action hero – and in fairness to the artist who drew this one, he looks quite terrifying and Arnie-like. Or Action Man-like.

THE MATRIX

Chunky Neo ... and Laurence Fishburne?

Flash Features

A game-changer in terms of cinema special effects and sci-fi storylines, but Keanu Reeves looks like he would struggle to kick above his own waistline in this poster.
And as for the chap hovering around below him, he looks like a cross-between Morpheus and bad guy Agent Smith.

TARZAN

Is this bad? ... Tarzan looks confused

Flash Features

The chimp-raised hero looks slightly unsure of how he feels about being wrapped in chains, or a snake for that matter, as he half-grimaces while being cuddled by his girlfriend.

TERMINATOR 3

'Get shopping!' ... Arnie as Dale Winton

Flash Features

Arnie is a favourite out in Ghana but one artist clearly took a disliking to him and decided to mock him up as TV presenter Dale Winton for this advert.

BLOODSPORT 2

All rise ... boy band Blue's Costa kicks out

Flash Features

Bloodspot 2? No, me neither. How about Bloodsport 2? Yeah, same. But the scissor-kicking impression of Antony Costa from boy band Blue cheered me up.

ALIEN VS PREDATOR

Croc monster ... an alternative foe for Predator

Flash Features

Ok, so that’s definitely predator nicely holding someone’s still bleeding severed head in his hands – look away now small, Ghanaian children - but is that you..alien?
Evidently having never seen an alien before, the artist in this one opted to create the scariest thing he could think of – a giant, black crocodile wearing a 19th-century German army officer’s hat.

300

Eye to the right ... Butler raises an eye

Flash Features

A rip-off off the actual 300 poster, Gerard Butler has succumbed to wonky-eye syndrome while our painter seemingly had enough by the time it came to scribbling out the number 300 itself.

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 2

Cool customer ... Cruise with mullet

Flash Features

Cruise is back – and this time he’s slicked back his hair to achieve the proper Donald Trump effect, or has the artist just mixed up his mullets and drawn Steven Seagal? Nobody will ever know.

TERMINATOR 2

Ariba, ariba ... Arnie with the Spanish effect

Flash Features

He’s back. Only this time round Schwarzenegger has morphed into a much redder, Hispanic version of the original Terminator incarnation. Hasta la vista, baby.

THE SPY WHO LOVE(D) ME

Lame's Bond ... Roger Moore looking unperturbed by the killer fish

Flash Features

 

Spelling mistake aside, it would appear the painter who created this piece of work had the key facts relayed to him by word of mouth rather than having seen the actual film or poster.

'So, you need a lead English guy in a tuxedo with a porcelain head (Roger Moore), an attractive Bond girl and a bad guy called Jaws.' Artist: ‘Oh, I thought by Jaws you meant a fish.’

Source: The Sun