About Dark City Gallery:
- Dark City Gallery is currently an online-based Gallery, offering wonderful posters, prints and original artwork from around the world. The Gallery regularly travels the United Kingdom exhibiting artwork at shows such as The London Film & Comic Con, The Entertainment & Media Show and Memorabilia. Our aim is to promote the work of talented artists and open peoples eyes to the joys of collecting rare, limited edition pieces of artwork.
We specialize in four areas of artwork:
- Original Artworks; Collecting art is very personal, and we plan to offer a wide range of art prints and originals. At the moment we have some really impressive movie themed Art Prints. There will be much more to come!
- Silkscreen Concert Posters have become very collectable over the years, and many of these impressive pieces of art have become very sought after indeed. These (often imaginative) posters are handmade for a specific event. They are conceived and executed by the artist in runs as small as 50-200. Each poster is a unique purchase, because not only are they very rare, they feature some of the finest pop art occurring in America and beyond. These posters are usually silk-screened on heavy paper, then signed and numbered by the artist. Poster art in this form can also be a wise investment.
- Silkscreen Movie Posters have become extremely popular with movie lovers and art enthusiasts worldwide. They have also become an exciting alternative to digital cinema posters of today and many collectors have directed their attention to these beautiful pieces of art. Over the last three years or so, several famous cinemas in the US have been commissioning talented artists to create limited (screen printed) posters for special showings of specific movies. The results are breathtaking pieces of artwork which have to be seen in the flesh to be fully appreciated. The most popular Screen Printed movie posters come from The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Texas and The Castro Theatre in San Francisco. All these posters are hand numbered, limited editions and often signed by the artist.
- Original Cinema Posters can be very rewarding to collect, there are so many areas to explore. Collectors sometimes choose a genre which interests them e.g. Horror Films, Science Fiction or Film Noir, many collectors enjoy the look and feel of international posters, for example the bright and lively designs of early French posters or the bizarre and surreal twist of Polish movie posters. Although older posters (pre 1980's) are generally far more valuable and collectable than digital posters of today, many modern posters are still very sort after e.g. Coen Brothers movies or Quentin Tarantino movies, any movie poster with cult status and a cool image is worth snapping up if you can.
Post & Packing
- As soon as we receive payment for an item (or items), we carefully package your purchase by rolling it up in tissue paper, this prevents the artwork from being scratched. Artwork will always be packaged so there is no movement inside the parcel. We usually post the same day as purchased. 1st Class Recorded Delivery is used and fast Airmail is used to Europe and the rest of the World. Your item will always be fully insured.
Cinema poster sizes:
United States- One sheet, 27 inches by 40 inches (686x1020mm), portrait format
- The following sizes were in common use in the United States prior to the mid-1980s, but have since been phased out of production (citation needed)
- One sheet, 27 inches by 41 inches (686x1040mm), portrait format (this size is one inch longer than the modern One sheet)
- Display (aka Half-sheet), 22 inches by 28 inches (559x711mm), landscape format
- Insert, size 14 inches by 36 inches (356x914mm), portrait format
- Window Card, 14 inches by 22 inches (356x559mm), portrait format
- Two sheet, 41 inches by 54 inches (1040x1370mm), either landscape format or portrait format
- Three sheet, 41 inches by 81 inches (1040x2060mm), portrait format
- 30x40, 30 inches by 40 inches (762x1016mm), portrait format[4][5]
- 40x60, 40 inches by 60 inches (1016x1524mm), portrait format[6][7]
- Six sheet, 81 inches by 81 inches (2060x2060mm), a square format, often printed in landscape format
- Twenty four sheet, 246 inches by 108 inches (6250x2740mm), landscape format often called a billboard
UK
- Quad: 40 x 30 in, printed on paper stock; the standard British poster. The image is often designed to fit the horizontal format, and is not just an imitation of the US 1-sheet artwork.
- Double Crown (dc): 20 x 30, printed on paper stock.
- 1 sheet: 27 x 40. Not as common as the Quad.
- 3 Sheet: 41 x 81. Not as common as the US 3-sheet.
- Underground Poster aka Giant Fly (fly): Approximately 65 x 40 in., printed on paper stock; used on the walls of mass transit underground stations and bus shelters. When this size is not produced, several copies of international one-sheets are grouped to fill the display area.
- Front of House (foh): 10 x 8 in., printed on card stock; usually issued in sets of eight in color for display in theater lobbies, especially in the UK. They are often smaller versions of lobby card sets.
- Billboard: 80 x 90 in. The top ten inches are left blank so the theater information can be put in later, as with US window cards.
Australia
- Daybill, size 13 inches by 30 inches (330x762mm), portrait format (before the 1960s, Daybills were 36 inches long), similar to US insert but printed on thin paper
- One sheet, size 27 inches by 40 inches (686x1040mm), portrait format
Italy
- Locandino: 13 x 27 in
- Photobusta or fotobusta (fb)" 27 x 19 in. Glossy, high quality lithographs, used as lobby cards in Europe. Size may vary. May be either vertical or horizontal format.
- 2-foglio (due): 39 x 55 in. Standard poster size.
- 4-foglio (quattro): 55 x 78 in. Very large poster printed in 2 pieces.
France
- Mini (for posting on walls): 40 x 55 cm (app. 16 x 22in 2); but the size may vary considerably.
- Petite: 60 cm x 80 cm (app. 23.5 x 31.5 in) Either Mini or Petite is sometimes called an affichette.
- Grande: 120 cm x 160 cm (app 47 x 63in) This is the standard french poster.
- 8 Panneaux: 4 m x 3 m (158 x 118 inches) Used above the marquee in large French cinemas.
- A00: 118 x 166 cm or 46 x 65 inches.
- A0: 84 x 118 cm or 33 x 46 inches (may be vertical or horizontal format).
- A1: 59 x 84 cm or 23 x 33 inches; this is the most common size.
- A2: 59 x 42 cm or 24 x 17 inches.
- A3: 29 x 42 cm or 11 x 17 inches.
- A4: 21 x 20 cm or 8 x 8 inches.
- Lobby cards are also printed on paper, they vary in size from 8 x 12 in to 12 x 18 in.
- Belgian posters measure 24 x 33 before 1939 and are now about 14 x 22, either horizontal or vertical.
- Polish posters are mostly the same size as the German A1, but, because of paper shortages during the years of Soviet occupation, the posters are not uniform as to size, paper or colour.