woah, i really like this. Its too bad it didn't make it to the real deal. probably because it's a very odd way of marketing the movie. you show this to someone and you don't know if it's a horror, fantasy, drama or what. That's what i liked about the first trailer, it had this unique mixture of tones.

Fantastic poster.

I like the poster, even if people didn't like the picture it would get them talking and wondering about what the movie was about if they weren't exposed to the trailers.

Erm, the exact same thing happens when the poster consists of just Brad Pitt's face... "Hey, it's a Brad Pitt movie, but what's it about?!"

yea that is true if you are a big Pitt fan. for those who are not though, I would think this poster would be more of an eye catcher.

Once the film has made its money using the Pitt face posters, whack this on the DVD cover. Oh, sorry... 'Blu-ray'. Pah.

i'm not a blue ray fan. especially when they "improve" old movies. To me, touching up old movies is like messing with your memories. It's so rare now a days to find the ORIGINAL STAR WARS the way it was first shown and meant to be shown. Remakes are one thing, but actually changing the original film's properties should be illegal.

they should have used that as one of the promo posters. I really can't wait to see the movie

That's a really interesting and creative poster. But I do agree that the major audiences would not like it.

I think the bottom line is the posters they DID choose they shouldn't have. To me it's a turnoff that a "creative" movie have a boring marketing campaign. As interesting as the plot sounds, the posters and commercials are not giving me that final push to actually get my ass to the theatre to see it.

i'd say that most creative movies tend to have the most boring marketing campaigns because they put more of the effort into the movie itself.

I agree with Alex, this is creepy. I think the project looks really interesting, and am sure the film is excellent (or at least worth my theatre money) but I already have a freakish aversion to content that portrays unnatural aging or in which someone can't control time. Jack was awful to me. Someone recommended I read the Time Traveler's Wife. Don't even get me started on What Dreams May Come - who chooses to be a stewardess?!

While I agree that the actual posters are not works of art, showing Pitt and Blanchett does open up the audience that will come to this movie (not me) and removes a very HIGH level of creepy.

On another note...
Mmmmm, man-baby crack.

Are you kidding? That poster is AMAZING! What the f*ck were they thinking - using those boring-ass headshots of Pitt and Blanchett - like I've never seen a picture of Brad Pitt before! Time for some heads to roll.

I don't think they should go with this poster. I just finished the short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and at Benjamin Button's birth, he is born as an old man. Not an old baby man.

If they swapped the baby for an old guy, and had the woman coddling the old guy, that might've made a good, and accurate, poster

so did the mom give birth to a full grown old man?

Yeah... they didn't explain it in the story. The entire first few paragraphs are about how Benjamin Button's father is trying to locate his wife in the hospital after she had given birth, and the entire hospital staff is horrified. This is the actual passage:

"Well," gasped Mr. Button, "which is mine?"

"There!" said the nurse.

Mr. Button's eyes followed her pointing finger, and this is what he saw. Wrapped in a voluminous white blanket, and partly crammed into one of the cribs, there sat an old man apparently about seventy years of age. His sparse hair was almost white, and from his chin dripped a long smoke-coloured beard, which waved absurdly back and forth, fanned by the breeze coming in at the window. He looked up at Mr. Button with dim, faded eyes in which lurked a puzzled question.

"Am I mad?" thundered Mr. Button, his terror resolving into rage. "Is this some ghastly hospital joke?

"It doesn't seem like a joke to us," replied the nurse severely. "And I don't know whether you're mad or not--but that is most certainly your child."

The cool perspiration redoubled on Mr. Button's forehead. He closed his eyes, and then, opening them, looked again. There was no mistake--he was gazing at a man of threescore and ten--a baby of threescore and ten, a baby whose feet hung over the sides of the crib in which it was reposing.

That is a brilliant poster, despite it not seeming to coincide properly with the film (see Chuck's comment above), it does one key thing which is grab the attention of the viewer. If I saw that poster in my local Cinema, I'd almost certainly stop and take note of the film's name and it's release date.

Sure it's creepy and weird but it has something the blank look on Brat Pitts face has not: Expression.

I think it's quite lovely. WAY better than the ones they used.

Oh my... because it's hideous, that's why!!! I would NOT want to see that on a poster! I would've rather taken the ones they put out! I "get" what they're trying, but seriously, that is one hell of a creepy poster... Didn't they have ANY other better ideas?!

HAHA!!! Yeah, who the fuck wants to look at a wrinkled ass baby?

I disagree. This poster is an improved choice. The only reason they probably went with the face posters is to sell the movie on Brad Pitt's star power, which is LAME

'Lame' because...? If you want your movie to sell, and Brad Pitt has pulling power, you definitely want his face on the motherfuckin' posters. That's the POINT of hiring him, no?

At least this poster tells you something about the film, albeit subtly but there is nothing wrong with that.

It's not that I don't think this obviously says more about the film than just Brad Pitt's face... But seriously, this is creepy. I'm just saying the honest truth. Maybe if you've seen the film or a hardcore cinephile, you'll know enough about the movie to call this poster "beautiful."

But if you think of middle Americans, they'll probably shriek and go "what the heck?!" if they were to see this. I bet you some uneducated moviegoers might have even thought it was a horror movie! If this poster was the ONLY thing you saw, no trailers, no photos, nothing, you would be a bit confused too!

I think a wrinkled baby with greying hair is a lot more intriguing than a close up shot of Brad Pitt with backwards text.
But I do agree that a lot of people might be weirded out by it. Whether that would work against the film though, I don't know...

agreed

but they still will be "curious". Movies, DVD, Netflix or otherwise. Wrinkled baby or not you're gonna get creeped out eventually when you see the flick. But I don't know, maybe middle americans aren't into decent concepts...but I doubt it.

Jocelyn's Corner

Well it's certainly memorable, and I think that's ultimately better than the totally forgettable posters they settled on. Given your logic Alex they would never have shown any shots of old-infant Button in the trailers either ;)

Some people just don't get it. In the movie the very first shot we see of Benjamin is a wrinkled, mis-shapen little thing. I think this poster conveys the feeling of that image, which is pervasive through out the entire movie. I'm sorry you can't see or aknowlege that.

This image was used as the cover for a Press Booklet given at early screenings and was also used in the cover of "The Making of the Motion Picture" book, showing the how-to's of the amazing visual effects which should earn an Oscar

Some over zealous parent or something would call it indecent and demand a boycott?

we've become a nation of politically correct wussies.

YES YES YES

This poster is so much better than Brad Pitt staring blankly

I honestly can't wait to see this movie. It's gonna be good.

this is a beautiful poster, much better than the ones they have out now

This is a very good poster, i like it!

It's creepy, anyway, but good!

I don't think that any of them is that great, and this one is off puttingly sad. It makes me think of those little kids who are born with that rapid aging disease, which is always heartbreaking.

Good call keeping this for interior Oscar bait ads, but couldn't they make anything more interesting than those dull as dishwater closeups they used?

The movie itself looks fantastic! The poster... doesn't.

Above: is/are and mentally add a hyphen to off-puttingly.

Sneezing jag while typing broke my concentration.

very nice photo, but the baby so thin that sense very weak,with white hair...

The title is hard to read at the bottom. The above version should not be used.

If it was done in black space like the cover of the book that EvilBob mentioned then it would work better.

When I saw that image on a For Your Consideration advertisement, the first thing I thought was "WHY DIDNT THEY USE THAT AS THE POSTER!?"

maybe its because they dont want to show a black woman holding a white baby if it was a white woman holding a black baby it will be alright

yeah, it's just that. because they are racist. the ones in charge are racist.

It's the cover for a re-release book that just came out.

http://www.borders.com/online/store/TitleDetail?s...
http://www.borders.com/online/store/TitleDetail?s...