The 25 most iconic Star Wars movie posters of all time

8. Star Wars advance poster

This was the first time the public ever saw the title Star Wars. Shipped to theaters to be hung in the lobbies in December of 1976, it’s hard to imagine that this poster would end up announcing an ongoing saga that is still going strong over forty years later.

There are no images of lightsabers, no spaceships, no Darth Vader, or Death Star, and really no images of any kind. In fact, you can see that the design of the Star Wars logo on the bottom of the poster isn’t even in its final form.

Lucas had the design adjusted slightly, particularly the “W,” before the release of the final movie. Yet, even without any of the imagery that has become synonymous with the Star Wars franchise, the poster is still striking.

With a few choice words, printed in a massive, bold font, the tagline of the poster is designed for you to be able to read them across the lobby of a movie theater. In a theater full of busy, overstuffed posters, relying on exciting visuals, or the faces of major movie stars, a poster with one giant sentence has to stand out and draw you closer to find out exactly what the poster is advertising. Imagine standing in the theater lobby in 1976 imagining what a “Star Wars” could possibly be and what adventure might be in store.