Avatar 6 sheet

[Neo]

Does anyone know what the deal is with these Avatar six sheets?  Here is a picture of one that is behind a projection screen in this awesome room.

[brude]

Hey, Neo...I can't tell you much other than that it is an Indian 6-sheet, I have one and it is stunning.
Well worth the money.

[kovacs01]

I am not sure what story you are looking for.  Its an Indian 6 sheet.  Several people here have one........Thierry, and Brude I think and probably a couple more.

[Neo]

I am not sure what story you are looking for.  Its an Indian 6 sheet.  Several people here have one........Thierry, and Brude I think and probably a couple more.

A couple sellers have sold several of them, some with English letters, some with Indian letters, and I just wanted to make sure they are legit.  If you guys say they are, I will take your word for it. 

[brude]

Hey, Neo.  Yes, like many Indian posters, these Avatar six-sheets are available in both languages.  I chose an English version and it was from the same seller contemp2004art.  It took a few weeks to get here in the States, but it was well worth the wait.  Absolutely genuine and very colorful.   

[Neo]

Sounds good, Brude and Kovacs.  Thanks for the info.

After seeing Avatar again (this time at an IMAX 3d theater), I must say it was the second best movie theater experience I've had, the first being the first time I saw Avatar.  Seeing it at an IMAX was almost like being on a ride at Universal Studios.  I'm still glad I scored the lenticular from Bruce, and hopefully someday when I have a pimped out room like that one in the picture, I may "borrow" that guy's idea of putting a six sheet behind the screen.   

[eatbrie]

I bought the 2nd one to pop up on Ebay, and at the time, there were no others, so I thought I was getting a rare item.  I paid $70.  Then the market got flooded, which made me wonder if they were being reprinted, but India is not a "reprint" country, so I think not.  Nowadays, I wouldn't spend more than $25 on it.

T

[supraman079]

You just have to remember that movie was a big release and they expected huge box office. That's why they probably printed a large amount of posters for every country. Just think about Titanic paper.

[Neo]

Nowadays, I wouldn't spend more than $25 on it.

T

I'm starting to see why you try to get the best deals, Mr. Brie.  If you spent $40 more for each poster you owned, for over 4,000 posters, that would add up to a large sum of money.  Personally, I only have about 2% of the amount of posters you have, so I generally don't mind spending a little extra to buy from reputable dealers, like the Avatar lenticular I scored from Bruce.  And I still have not seen another for sale like the one I have (without the date on it).  

The initial hype that most things get eventually dwindles, but I can see if someone thought there were not many of them for sale, then it would be a seller's market.  Like Supraman said, and hindsight being 20/20, it would make sense that there would be a lot of posters made for Avatar, for each country, but who would have guessed that so many would end up on Ebay?  

[Neo]

The Avatar six sheet from Contemp2004Art arrived today.  It seems completely legit and the colors are nice, but I spent about a half hour trying to get the sheets to line up, and came to the conclusion that the images do not match up perfectly.  Other than that, it is very nice.  Thanks for confirming that the poster and seller were good.

[Zorba]

Looks great Neo( the multiple sheets, they do have that overlap)...As does the stuff you posted in the september thread. Kick ass haul.

[Gimpy]

Questions for Neo, I just got a couple of these in today. Just wanted to double check with someone who already has one....does the paper on yours feel extremely thin? I unrolled mine to see that all the pieces were there and rolled them back up paranoid to handle them too much.

Also the image looks almost grainy....mind you I'm speaking of up pretty close.

I'll have to take some pictures in a bit and post them on here.

[Neo]

Mr. G., the paper is very thin.  I really have no idea how to authenticate one of these posters, as it's the only one from India in my humble collection, and I know little to nothing about posters from India in general, but it all looks legit IMO, for what that's worth.  A couple other members here mentioned that it appears legit, and the seller is a good dude, so that adds some credibility to it IMHO.  Who did you get yours from, if you don't mind me asking?  I'm not sure what you mean about the "grainy" look.  If you can take a picture, I will get mine out of the flat file and let you know how it is in comparison. 

[Gimpy]

I guess close up it almost looks like the printing is done in a way where it looks like it would if it were printed on linen or something with the crosshatch type texture. Again that's up close where everything is usually distorted I guess. I will lay them out tomorrow when there is light again (light in this house is really bad all over) and take some pictures.

I bought them from diamondsindia. I have no reason to doubt the legitimacy, but for me personally it's always reassuring to ask about these things. Nice guy to deal with too.

[Ari]

I think you would be safe to say there are no fakes of this.

[raulleaf]

Mr. G., the paper is very thin.  I really have no idea how to authenticate one of these posters, as it's the only one from India in my humble collection, and I know little to nothing about posters from India in general, but it all looks legit IMO, for what that's worth.  A couple other members here mentioned that it appears legit, and the seller is a good dude, so that adds some credibility to it IMHO.  Who did you get yours from, if you don't mind me asking?  I'm not sure what you mean about the "grainy" look.  If you can take a picture, I will get mine out of the flat file and let you know how it is in comparison.  

I have many Hindi/Indian posters. The paper is very thin the consistency of newspaper is a good comparison.  However knowing India, as my wife is Indian, (I've actually hunted posters while I was there) I would say that even if there is a tiny demand I would not put it past a printer to make additional posters for resale.  So my guess would be that these six sheet posters all from the same seller are legit but simply because the person who is selling them has a contact at a legit print shop and made a deal on the side to do an overrun.  It also would not surprise me if the seller goes back for more if he ever sold out.  India is a violent supply/demand economy.

My opinion is enjoy it as it is; it probably rolled off the same printers as an original, if it isn't one.  You will never know from India unless you got it from a theater in person.

Another thing to check for is use signs; the everyday/average Indian personality is such that posters mean nothing to them (they are just paper).  If it was used, there should be legitimate use signs; I would expect the sheets to have been folded at least once through the center....  Also look for printers information and a location...

[raulleaf]

My wife is standing here as I showed here my post.  She is telling me that it is most likely that if a movie theater owner knew there would be demand for an American movie poster he would have order many more than needed to sell later.  My wife suggested asking the seller indirectly about if it came from a movie theater.  She says to ask if the seller has a movie theater.  or Ask if he is going to have any newer stuff coming out and when to expect it.  How did you come by these.  etc.  If you ask if it is original it will be...

She says that its very rare for an Indian citizen to collect movie posters so classical Indian/Hindi movie posters are very hard to come by and are often faked or printed for rerelease.  I have several of the latter and only two that I feel are original from the 50s/60s.  

She said just enjoy it for what it is!

[brude]

Thanks, Charlie.
I have some Indian paper and your background notes from your wife are very informative.

[Neo]

I almost forgot about this.  After closer examination, I noticed the name of the printing company and formed an intense background report on it after rigorously searching the interwebz (for about 5 minutes).    On the "about us" page of the company, it says they have a lot of large volume clients, several of which (in their clients list) include movie production companies.  Of course, it could just be a knockoff/reprint, whatever from there, but IMO it appears as though it rolled off a serious printing machine, such as one that would likely be used by a company like Safire Industries.  You could call them and ask them if they can print you one for a few bucks, and if they say "yes" then it's obviously a company who would print stuff for any Joe Schmo to put on Ebay and make a few bucks, but I am confident that mine is legit, so that's good enough for me, and I'll save the time and money on the long distance call.  Charlie had a very insightful breakdown of what to look for, probably better than almost anywhere else that one will find on the interwebz.  Mine also appeared to be lightly tri-folded, so that may be a good sign, as Charlie mentioned.  The guy I got mine from sold some, but likely not a huge volume, and I don't think Ebay sold a huge volume, either, so that may indicate that there weren't just a few random dudes who decided to print a bunch of posters then sell them on Ebay and call them "originals."    If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

[raulleaf]

I almost forgot about this.  After closer examination, I noticed the name of the printing company and formed an intense background report on it after rigorously searching the interwebz (for about 5 minutes).    On the "about us" page of the company, it says they have a lot of large volume clients, several of which (in their clients list) include movie production companies.  Of course, it could just be a knockoff/reprint, whatever from there, but IMO it appears as though it rolled off a serious printing machine, such as one that would likely be used by a company like Safire Industries.  You could call them and ask them if they can print you one for a few bucks, and if they say "yes" then it's obviously a company who would print stuff for any Joe Schmo to put on Ebay and make a few bucks, but I am confident that mine is legit, so that's good enough for me, and I'll save the time and money on the long distance call.  Charlie had a very insightful breakdown of what to look for, probably better than almost anywhere else that one will find on the interwebz.  Mine also appeared to be lightly tri-folded, so that may be a good sign, as Charlie mentioned.  The guy I got mine from sold some, but likely not a huge volume, and I don't think Ebay sold a huge volume, either, so that may indicate that there wasn't just a few random dudes who decided to print a bunch of posters then sell them on Ebay and call them "originals."    If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Looking good for your pick-up!  Everything seems legit.  The grainy image resolution is also on my stuff so that shouldn't worry you.  But the older stuff, if anyone decide to get into, it looks almost hand painted...

1948 One of the first Indian films to get nationwide distribution. Hey, does this count as a stone litho? 


1976  One of my wife's favorites; check out the art!

[brude]

That is a sweet image, Charlie.
Here's a one sheet I have from India, 1953...

[raulleaf]

That is a sweet image, Charlie.
Here's a one sheet I have from India, 1953...

Nice! Like its hand painted right?  And the texture is a smooth rough....

[50s]

Nice poster Ted!

[Gimpy]

Here are a couple I took of the six sheet today:









These also have the 2 light fold marks and surprisingly no creases in that area I was happy to see that.
Super cool looking posters, going to be a pain to frame but it'll be worth it! Especially if it looks this good once it's up:


Thanks for posting those extra pictures Neo they really helped with the referencing. Also thanks to everyone else for posting such helpful info!

[guest8]

I want to be able to take up close text pictures like that .. When I get my camera that close to a page everything goes out of focus .. Its like a rickety old man telling me to screw off !