A lot of movies don’t even like to acknowledge a world where movies exist, but some embrace it in a big way. There’s nothing cooler than seeing a movie poster that reflects a character or director’s tastes, or a fake poster for a movie that only exists in the world of the film we’re watching. Check out our gallery below for a look at over twenty of our favorite movie posters that appeared in actual movie scenes!
Of course, probably the most famous (and useful) wall art in all of cinema was the big damn poster of Raquel “fuzzy britches” Welch in One Million Years B.C. that Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) put up to conceal a certain something-something in 1994’s immortal The Shawshank Redemption. This week, Kino Lorber happens to be putting out a terrific new Blu-ray edition of One Million Years B.C. where that pin-up of lovely Raquel comes to vivid life against a backdrop of some of Ray Harryhausen‘s finest stop-motion dinosaurs. The 2-disc set also includes the original International Cut, along with the shorter domestic version.
Click here to purchase your copy of One Million Years B.C. on Blu-ray!
Click through the gallery below of some of the best movie posters in movies and let us know your favorites and others we left off in the gallery below!
20 of the Best Movie Posters in Movies
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Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
Zack Snyder's ham-fisted take on the Caped Crusader included an origin where his parents ironically took him to see 1940's The Mark of Zorro, one of Bob Kane's literal inspirations for Batman.
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Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
There's also a marquee touting John Boorman's Arthurian classic Excalibur, and you can see that poster right next to Zorro in the long shot.
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Ghostbusters (2016)
When the ghosts take over Manhattan in Paul Fieg's reboot, they turn back the clock on New York's Times Square from the Disney-fied tourist trap it is now to the sleazy '70s heyday of grindhouses known affectionately as "The Deuce."
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Ghostbusters (2016)
Some of the films on the billboards include Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver, the musical Tommy, the little-seen bats-in-a-bunker shocker Chosen Survivors and the 1971 Boris Karloff cheapie Snake People.
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Don Jon (2013)
Joseph Gordon-Levitt's directorial debut about a New Jersey bro's porn addiction includes a scene where he takes Scarlett Johansson to the movies for an archetypal romantic comedy titled "Special Someone."
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Don Jon (2013)
Channing Tatum and Anne Hathaway even shot a little cameo for the movie-within-a-movie.
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Scott Pilgrim vs the World (2010)
The second evil ex that Scott has to battle in Edgar Wright's brilliant comic adaptation is Lucas Lee, a self-involved movie star played with eyebrow-twirling aplomb by Chris Evans.
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Scott Pilgrim vs the World (2010)
One of the fake movies he's in is a silly thriller titled "Action Doctor," and you can see the poster among Wallace Wells' collection as well as on the side of a bus.
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Funny People (2009)
Judd Apatow's dramatic exploration of stand-up comedy includes Adam Sandler's Adam Sandler-esque comic-turned-movie-star George Simmons, and an array of fake movies he's starred in.
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Funny People (2009)
Funnily enough, all the fake posters look like the kind of lowest common denominator movies Sandler would actually write and star in in real life.
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Micmacs (2009)
Jean-Pierre Jeaunet has made some wild movies (Amelie, Delicatessen, Alien: Resurrection), but none may be as weird as Micmacs, where he included at least five instances of the poster for the movie the characters are in appearing in the movie itself.
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Micmacs (2009)
The inventive madcap comedy of the movie somehow makes this fourth-wall breaking effort seem okay in context.
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Burn After Reading (2008)
The Coen Brothers' dark satire includes a scene where Frances McDormand's character goes on a date to a generic romantic comedy called "Coming Up Daisy" starring Dermot Mulroney and Claire Danes.
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Burn After Reading (2008)
During the excerpt shown in the film, however, only Mulroney appears.
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Death Proof (2007)
Director Quentin Tarantino is a huge French film buff, so much so he named his production company after Jean-Luc Godard's Bande à part, which is why it's not surprising he included a fun nod to Brigitte Bardot in the Death Proof section of 2007's Grindhouse.
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Death Proof (2007)
The poster image is taken from Roger Vadim's 1958 film The Night Heaven Fell, and may have been created specifically for Death Proof.
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The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
During the San Diego attack scenes in Steven Spielberg's sequel, there's a Blockbuster video with several standees featuring fake movies like Arnold Schwarzenegger's "King Lear" and Robin Williams' "Jack and the Beanstalks."
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The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
Another shot features a Tom Hanks vehicle titled "Tsunami Sunrise" where Hanks apparently plays a surfer.
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Ed Wood (1994)
Tim Burton's biopic of the Plan 9 From Outer Space director features a scene where Johnny Depp tries to land a job directing a sleazy B-movie that already has a poster: "I Changed My Sex."
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Ed Wood (1994)
Of course, instead of making a sex change movie, ol' Ed decided to make the cult classic Glen or Glenda about his predilection for wearing women's clothing.
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Matinee (1993)
Joe Dante's wonderful tribute to 1960's B-movies, specifically those of William Castle and Bert I. Gordon, cast John Goodman as a huckster filmmaker with a new picture titled "Mant."
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Matinee (1993)
The poster promises all the thrills of "Atomo Vision," a special process involving buzzing seats, a rumbling theater and other fun gimmicks.
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Last Action Hero (1993)
Arnold Schwarzenegger parodied his action star image in this bomb about a kid who gets to go into the movie starring his idol, "Jack Slater."
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Last Action Hero (1993)
Within the world of the movie, Schwarzenegger never got to play The Terminator, and apparently his old pal Sylvester Stallone took up the mantle in this alternate timeline.
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The Fisher King (1991)
Terry Gilliam playfully added a poster to his own 1985 movie Brazil to the video store scenes with Jeff Bridges.
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The Fisher King (1991)
He also found a place for his underrated 1989 movie The Adventures of Baron Munchausen on the wall as well.
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Back to the Future Part III (1990)
During the scene at the drive-in where Marty travels from 1955 to 1885, he mentions Clint Eastwood then remembers Doc Brown hasn't heard of him.
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Back to the Future Part III (1990)
On the wall right next to him is a poster for 1955's Revenge of the Creature, featuring the first onscreen appearance by... Clint Eastwood!
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Stardust Memories (1980)
Woody Allen's self-reflexive comedy about a neurotic filmmaker features a scene with a whole wall covered by Groucho Marx in Animal Crackers.
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Stardust Memories (1980)
It is juxtaposed with another wall covered by the infamous photo from Vietnam of General Loan executing Nguyen Van Lem in the streets of Saigon. You can read a whole article about this scene written by Brad Brevit for us by clicking here!
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Breathless (1960)
In Godard's classic, Jean-Paul Belmondo plays a thug who's obsessed by the persona of Hollywood legend Humphrey Bogart.
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Breathless (1960)
He passes by a poster for Bogart's 1956 movie The Harder They Fall.
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John Landis Filmography
A recurring motif in almost all of John Landis's films is a fake movie titled "See You Next Wednesday," which is taken from a line in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
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John Landis Filmography
It appears in many of his films, including An American Werewolf in London, Trading Places, The Blues Brothers, The Kentucky Fried Movie, Into the Night and Coming to America.
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The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
In Frank Darabont's classic based on the novella by Stephen King, Tim Robbins' innocent prisoner uses several movie posters to hide the hole he's tunneling to escape.
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The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
The movies include Gilda, The Seven Year Itch and One Million Years B.C. and, in the novella, also included a poster of Linda Rondstadt.
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The Majestic (2001)
Another Darabont movie that features a cool poster is The Majestic, where Jim Carrey's blacklisted screenwriter wrote a B-movie titled "Sand Pirates of the Sahara."
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The Majestic (2001)
The poster features actors Bruce Campbell and Cliff Curtis, who appear in the movie-within-a-movie.
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The Mist (2007)
And just to prove how much Darabont LOVES posters, he had Thomas Jane play a poster artist in The Mist. Specifically, he seems to be playing a version of Drew Struzan, since Struzan's posters for Pan's Labyrinth and The Thing are hanging on his wall.
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The Mist (2007)
There's also a fake movie poster being painted for a fake (but soon-to-be-real) The Dark Tower movie based on Stephen King's fantasy series.
