The greatest movie poster of our time comes to life in the first Geostorm trailer
From the eye-catching one-sheets of Saul Bass to the memorably strange plot interpretations of Warsaw Pact-era Poland and the hand-made insanity of Ghana’s ad painters, the movie poster has long been a storied and diverse art form—the subject of countless museum exhibits, coffee table books, and Tumblrs. Ranking the best posters of a given year often comes down to taste. But once in a blue moon, there comes along a movie poster that feels instantly iconic, capturing the zeitgeist of an era in one 27” by 40” image that will adorn the walls of dorms and first apartments for at least two generations to come.
This year, we were blessed early with the poster for Geostorm, whose combination of typeface and overall aesthetic sensibility suggests the VHS case of a direct-to-video sequel to Turbulence. The title itself is what the heroes of David Lynch’s Dune would call “a killing word.” It makes the driest of headlines seem weirdly funny. Say it with us: Geostorm.
And at last, Warner Bros. has deigned to release a teaser trailer for the film that has, up to now, existed only in our dreams and nightmares. The good news is that the teaser confirms that Geostorm is in fact a real movie, despite an initial synopsis that read, “As a man heads into space to prevent climate-controlling satellites from creating a storm of epic proportions, his brother discovers a plot to assassinate the president.” The bad news is that, contrary to what the poster had led us to believe, it is not a real movie from 1999.
In fact, it’s the feature directing debut of Dean Devlin, the longtime creative partner of Roland Emmerich. Devlin, who started out as an actor, has been working with the German disaster movie maestro since he was cast in Emmerich’s Moon 44—a generic but enjoyable with some nifty low-budget effects work. He wrote or co-wrote the scripts for Stargate, Universal Soldier, and Independence Day before focusing on producing.
To absolutely no one’s surprise, Geostorm looks like a Roland Emmerich movie. It stars Gerard Butler, Abbie Cornish, Ed Harris, and Andy Garcia, and is set to hit theaters on October 20th.