Here's what I've unearthed for the next poster, the
Boats - Style B
(Teaser), it was a minefield because of the usual 'Philosopher's'/'Sorcerer's' variations but with an additional background image variation!
To begin with this style looked easy, I had the ubiquitous double sided 'Sorcerer's' version with 'THE MAGIC BEGINS NOVEMBER 16', but when I looked closely at some of the ebay auctions and poster sites that said they had this poster I noticed a different background image. I checked the MPDB and IMPA and they weren't that helpful so I went back to all the people and asked them what poster they had, most apologising saying they'd used the wrong 'stock' photo.
The image variation is still the night time scene of boats with lanterns crossing the water to Hogwarts, but rather than a clear night there is some fog rolling in behind the main 'Harry Potter' logo (the light coming from the churches door, to the right of 'Harry Potter', is also more indistinct because of the fog).
I found this variation twice and luckily grabbed a rolled one (the other was folded), and not through any serious knowledge, it SEEMS like it could be a Canadian variation (it came from a Canadian poster dealer!).
'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's (Sorcerer's') Stone'Boats - Style B
(Teaser)'Philosopher's' single sided US International one sheet 27"x40" strapline 'THE MAGIC BEGINS SOON'
Note: the two lines of copy at the bottom say 'THIS COPY PROPERTY OF WARNER BROS. NOT FOR SALE OR REDISTRIBUTION.' (left), 'PRINTED IN U.S.A.' (centred), with the Warner Brothers logo and © information (right) and as well as 'WWW.HARRYPOTTER.COM' (left) balancing the text 'AOL KEYWORD: HARRY POTTER (right)'Philosopher's' double sided Canadian(?) 'foggy' one sheet 27"x40" strapline 'THE MAGIC BEGINS NOVEMBER 16'
Note: the one line of copy at the bottom says 'THIS COPY PROPERTY OF WARNER BROS. NOT FOR SALE OR REDISTRIBUTION.' (left), there's also the Warner Brothers logo and © information (right) and as well as 'WWW.HARRYPOTTER.COM' (left) balancing the text 'AOL KEYWORD: HARRY POTTER (right)'Sorcerer's' double sided US one sheet 27"x40" strapline 'THE MAGIC BEGINS NOVEMBER 16'
Note: the two lines of copy at the bottom say 'THIS COPY PROPERTY OF WARNER BROS. NOT FOR SALE OR REDISTRIBUTION.' (left), 'PRINTED IN U.S.A.' (centred), with the Warner Brothers logo and © information (right) and as well as 'WWW.HARRYPOTTER.COM' (left) balancing the text 'AOL KEYWORD: HARRY POTTER (right)With two of the posters being 'Philosopher's' variations, the single sided (non 'foggy' version) was probably the first printed as the strapline 'THE MAGIC BEGINS SOON' doesn't have the date, and as it's a 'Philosopher's' version with 'PRINTED IN U.S.A.' I'm assuming it's a US international one sheet.
The 'Philosopher's' double sided 'foggy' version is an enigma really, but as I said before there is possibly a Canadian angle (remember this is pure speculation on my front so any more information on it would be great). It is not only titled 'Philosopher's', has the different background image, but is also missing the 'PRINTED IN U.S.A.', make of it what you will!
There are another couple of variations of this poster that I found:
'Philosopher's' double sided International 47.5"x68.5" strapline 'THE MAGIC BEGINS NOVEMBER 16'
Note: I can only see the Warner Brothers logo and © information (bottom right) as well as 'WWW.HARRYPOTTER.COM' and 'AMERICA ONLINE KEYWORD: HARRY POTTER' (centred)'Philosopher's' folded double sided Canadian(?) 'foggy' one sheet 27"x40" strapline 'THE MAGIC BEGINS NOVEMBER 16'
Note: I found this one on ebay and it looks exactly the same as the non folded version I got (above)There are also images of 'Sorcerer's' variations with the 'fog' and different straplines but I haven't seen a photo of the actual posters so am not going to go into them.
The one thing I would say is if anyone's got one of these posters it might be worth checking to see which version you've got. So many people auctioning or selling them told me they had never noticed there were image and strapline variations.
Hope that's interesting and you're all still awake! And if anyone's got more information or another variation feel free to post away...
It looks like I've found the last piece (that I know off) of the jigsaw in the
Harry/Hagrid - Style D
(Advance) style, so when I've got all my info. together on the
Struzan montage - Style C
(Advance) I'll get onto that!
AP