UK/International One Sheets - what's the story & wanted

[Dread_Pirate_Mel]

Can anyone explain the deal with UK one sheets?  

Are they the same as "international" one sheets?

I've never been to a UK movie theater but I understand that the UK quad size is far more prevalent.  Are one sheets actually displayed in UK theaters?

Whatever they are, they are very difficult to find, even on UK Ebay.  Picturetrader is the only reliable source on Ebay of these.

I'd love to find the following UK/international (English language only) one sheets of:

- Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
- In the Loop
- The Prestige (regular UK one sheet)


I have located (or have already purchased) the following UK/international one sheets:

-Almost Famous
-The Unborn
-Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade

Update:

And of course The Prestige advance UK/international one sheets are completely impossible to find:

[Bruce]

I can't answer for modern U.K. one-sheets, but in the 1950s and 1960s, it seems almost a certainty that U.K. one-sheets were not used in England at all!

1) In English pressbooks, the "one-sheet" is almost never pictured, but the Quad and double crown are
2) The vast majority of U.K. one-sheets I have auctioned have come from former U.K. possessions, like Australia and Canada.
3) I have asked many oldtime English collectors if they EVER saw a U.K. one-sheet in an English cinema and all say no.

Therefore I would bet that U.K. one-sheets were actually 'export" posters, printed in England for showings in former U.K. possessions, where the one-sheet size was the most-used.

Bruce

[cinemarts]

Bruce is correct.
You can also add that they are used for models of other
territory produced one sheets.

[kovacs01]

hmmm.........I have that Prestige poster and it has a .uk website at the bottom.  why would they put a uk website on a poster that was not to be used to advertise in uk markets?

[paul waines]

U.K. 1 Shts have been around for a very log time the U.K. Dracula 1930 press-book features 1shts for the film. Many silent films only had 1shts, 3shts etc The Quad format did'nt kick in until around 1936/7 one of the early films to have a quad poster was Snow White. from then on it became more popular. Cinema's tended to lean toward quads, but The 1sht was still made and displayed in train stations, bus stops, the small local bill boards, and as stated commonwelth countries, etc. In fact try finding a quad for some of the Hammer films from 1970-72 they only appear on double bill quads most of the posters are 1shts, Scars of Dracula, Horror of Frankenstein, Krons-Vampire hunter, Blood from the Mummys tomb are a couple of titles you wont find on a single quad format, they are all one sheets.       

[Dread_Pirate_Mel]

U.K. 1 Shts have been around for a very log time the U.K.        

What do UK theaters normally display today? A mixture of quads and one-sheets or do certain theaters only display quads and some only display one-sheets?  In other words, why don't UK theaters use a uniform size now?  (The US went strictly to 27x40 one sheets decades ago.)

[paul waines]

Theatres are almost totaly Quads for everything, sometimes you see a double crown ( half the size of a Quad ) It has been many years since I saw any Lobbys, or Front of house stills also. The other size often seen is the "bus stop" poster at 48" x 72" which as you will guess are in bus shelters.
    What you need to be carefull of is sometimes a poster company will get the rights to print a run of the advertising for a film. These are only "sell through", and not part of the distributors marketing, hence not a genuine film poster, only a copy of it. These are 90% of the time 1sht format. You have been warned!!   

[Bruce]

I didn't say anything about the 1920s and 1930s! It is correct that before WWII, English theaters used one-sheets, three-sheets, six-sheets, and 24-sheets (oddly, the three-sheets, six-sheets, and 24-sheets are all referred to as "six-sheets", "twelve-sheets" and "48-sheets" in English pressbooks of that time).

It is also correct that Quads began sometime in the middle 1930s, although they were first VERTICAL (the same as U.S. 30 x 40's of that time), and they soon switched to the modern horizontal format.

I am still looking for a collector from England to tell me they saw English one-sheets displayed at their cinema in the 1950s or 1960s. If they were, surely there would be lots of vintage photos showing them, but oddly I have never seen one.

It seems quite possible that the one-sheets may have been used in English theaters in the 1970s to present, although I have never received even one from a collector in England, whereas I have received hundreds from collectors and dealers in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, and from poster exchanges located in Europe and the Middle East.

Bruce

[cinemarts]

I am still looking for a collector from England to tell me they saw English one-sheets displayed at their cinema in the 1950s or 1960s. If they were, surely there would be lots of vintage photos showing them, but oddly I have never seen one.

I have seen literally hundreds o photos of British cinema FoHs displays form the 50s and 60s, and I can never recall seeing a one sheet used. For a start, all the exterior quad frames (back in the days when they were glass and there was little threat of wanton vandalism!)
were all quad format, so where were one sheets used.

In the 20s/30s, the three sheet format was most popular for exterior FoH use, because posters were meant to be seen from a distance, just as the large door panel posters were.

WW2 put a curb on movie paper in large sizes, and even quads were produced inconsiderably lesser numbers.

[Dread_Pirate_Mel]

Well, the British one-sheets were around in the 1970s.  Here's a British one sheet Animal House from 1978.  Oddly, it is 27x40 (not 41), according to Heritage's not-always-100%-accurate measurement.

[Bruce]

Mel

British one-sheets almost always measured 27 x 40 (for once Heritage is right). So do Australian one-sheets. U.S. one-sheets are the only ones that measured 41 long.

Bruce

[paul waines]

U.K. 1shts are as Bruce says 27""x40". As I have said in another post they were not so much used in cinemas in this country, they got used in train stations, bus stations, and local ( small ) bill board hordings, and almost always were pasted up. The other size regularly used in cinemas was the double crown, 20"x30", this size is still used today.

[kovacs01]

I like that animal house UK one sheet better than the US one.  I still prefer the quad over all of them though, I think.

The one UK one sheet I have is closer to 39.25.

[Dread_Pirate_Mel]

I like that animal house UK one sheet better than the US one.  I still prefer the quad over all of them though, I think.

I do like the quad but I prefer the rare US one sheet with the actual picture of the cast.

[Postertrader]

Many of the larger chains (Showcase/Vue etc) display both quads and one sheets at present. Mostly International versions are used, in the case of advance posters they simple replace the US release date with coming soon so they can be used in various countries.  Some different versions are still produced for certain movies but there appears to be no logical system employed.
A recent example would be for the forthcoming Wolfman movie which in the UK has two versions of the Emily Blunt against the tree advance, one with the figure of the Wolfman in the trees and one without. Not sure if both styles were used in the US?

[cinemarts]

Are we getting UK one sheets confused with US printed Internationals, now?

[fallenangel1]

I dont know about everyone else .. But Ive personally always kind of categorized them together (UK 1S and INTL posters)

[kovacs01]

I think theres a distinct difference between the 2 of these kinda like the difference between an Australian and Int'l one sheet.

[fallenangel1]

I get that .. I think the ratings bits on the Aussie 1S makes it more discernible to me, compared to the UK or other INTL pieces.

Other than a UK web address are there any other qualifying distinctions of a UK 1S and an INTL 1S?