The international poster for the new version of The Thing – which belatedly hits American cinemas this month – has been released. The film is being described as a prequel to, rather than a remake of, the 1982 horror classic, which starred Kurt Russell and was directed by John Carpenter; their second collaboration following the cult hit Escape from New York.

This is just the latest pre-release poster for the film, with the radically different American version having been issued to the press in July, and indicates the important role poster printing plays in the teaser promotions for major film releases. However, convincing audiences with an impressive teaser campaign is likely to be particularly important for this film, which not only has to win over fans of the Carpenter version, but also overcome negative perceptions created by the delay in release.

The new prequel had been due to be released in April, but was postponed at the last minute by Universal Pictures, leading to speculation about problems with the final cut, a claim denied by the film‘s producer Marc Abraham.

The American poster is considerably starker and foregrounds the film’s star – Mary Elisabeth Winstead – while the international poster features a full landscape photograph. This indicates the subtly different ways the film is being promoted domestically and internationally, with the domestic poster playing up one of the major areas of difference – the female lead – perhaps working on the assumption that the 1982 film is most fondly remembered at home.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 17th, 2011 at 5:02 pm and is filed under Escape From New York Remake. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.