'We Bought A Zoo' Theatrical Poster Proves Studio Poster Art Isn't Dead

Earlier today, I posted a story with hundreds of studio released movie posters that all looked the same. The lead sentence was "News flash: today's movie posters generally suck." Almost as if it was a response to that, Cameron Crowe's official website The Uncool debuted the theatrical poster for his upcoming film, We Bought a Zoo. Designed by Arsonal if features no stars and no dumb tagline, just a striking image that begs the question: what is this movie about? It does what a movie poster is supposed to do. It catches your eye and makes you think.

Check out the full image after the jump.

Thanks to The Uncool for this image and /Film reader iambretton for identifying the artist. Click on it for the high resolution version.

I'm not sure what's more surprising about this poster, the fact that none of the actor's faces are on it or that only Matt Damon's name is on it. It's not like he's the film's only star. Scarlett Johansson, Thomas Hayden Church and Elle Fanning are pretty big stars too.  Even Cameron Crowe's name is small in comparison. It's very ballsy for a studio to go with this as a final theatrical one-sheet.

So what exactly does this poster say about the movie? The characters buy a zoo, obviously. That's in the title. Matt Damon is in it. And, by dissecting the main image, a bunch of different animals help bring a family together with a sense of fun. I get that from the paw prints, obviously, the family connotation of a tree and the red kite floating above it. Really, is there anything else you need to know?

Of course, this imagery isn't exactly new. It harkens back to the theatrical poster for the incredible documentary Dear Zachary or, if you want to get even deeper, Scott Campbell's 2008 poster for Gallery 1988's Crazy 4 Cult 4 art show. Still, this is a beautiful image that, hopefully, serves the film well. Thank you Fox, for taking a chance.