See The Amazing Unused Back To The Future Posters
Even if you don’t recognize Drew Struzan’s name, I guarantee you would recognize his work. The legendary artist has provided some of the most iconic poster art in science fiction film history. All six Star Wars films? You bet. All three Back to the Future movies?
Absolutely. Blade Runner, The Thing, Goonies, Indiana Jones, and Big Trouble in Little China? You better believe it.
But it stands to reason that sometimes the perfect poster goes through a bit of revision before it achieves its final brilliance. Back to the Future is a perfect example.
Case in point, check out all the unused Back to the Future designs Struzan experimented with for the Back to the Future films before deciding on the three mirrored images used for the final posters, which you can above.
The unused Back to the Future poster designs come via the folks over at the amusingly named Blurppy. Even when he was getting close to the finished idea used in the posters, he still hadn’t added the iconic flames, and this image for Back to the Future III also shows off more of the Western setting, rather than the bluish void used in the final images.
He also hadn’t added Clara (Mary Steenbergen) to the image yet, an idea that nicely linked the three posters in a numeric procession — just Marty on the first, then Marty and the Doc for Part II, then all three of them for the third installment.
It’s a little touch that works brilliantly even if your brain doesn’t consciously register it. It’s also worth noting that the Back to the Future image below has Marty in his frilly “Clint Eastwood” garb rather than his more convincing Western getup.
His alternate Back to the Future posters for the first film are where things get really interesting. The DeLorean time machine is the most instantly recognizable element of the trilogy, but it wasn’t even shown in these early posters.
In this next Back to the Future poster, they mention the DeLorean but still don’t show it. Marty does have a thing for lifting up his sunglasses in dramatic fashion, though.
And then there’s this Back to the Future, which plays up one really awkward threesome — Marty and his would-be parents. It’s gotta be the shoes…
Here’s another variation on the Back to the Future clock theme, plus a bunch of little snippets from the first film’s storyline — but still no damn DeLorean.
And here are a few others. It’s fascinating to see some of the other directions Struzan explored along the way, and those early attempts just make you appreciate the final Back to the Future designs even more. After all that work, I can’t think of a more perfect poster design than the one they eventually settled on.
