Before a trailer, the very first glimpse at a new film or upcoming TV show is its poster. The lush artwork or posed character portrait immediately gives a taste of what’s to come, and teases plot elements that may not fully come into focus until audiences watch the finished product.
From spotting Ana de Armas’ transformation into Marilyn Monroe up-close for “Blonde” to visiting the desert dystopia of “Don’t Worry Darling,” film posters this year have caught the eyes of moviegoers on social media, at theaters, or anywhere they stake a claim in the wild. Even the hauntingly anonymous silhouette for “She Said” carries a dark weight of going on record for the #MeToo drama.
In television, there were the supercilious silhouettes of “Anne Rice’s Interview With the Vampire,” the mind-bending visuals of “Irma Vep” and “The Patient,” as well as the clean but effective dread evoked by “The Baby.” The colorful sweater within grave artwork for “We Need to Talk About Cosby” prepared viewers for a difficult look into their pasts, while Disney and Lucasfilm stirred up Star Wars nostalgia with character posters for “Obi-Wan Kenobi.”
Below is IndieWire’s full collection of the best film and television posters of 2022.
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“Fire of Love”
Image Credit: National Geographic Two lovers, countless volcanoes, and hundreds of hours of footage: “Fire of Love” has an engulfing heat that viewers, much like the documentary’s subjects Maurice and Katia Krafft, can’t help but run toward. National Geographic Documentary Films and Neon debuted Sundance award-winning documentary “Fire of Love,” directed by Sara Dosa and narrated by filmmaker Miranda July. The documentary captures the once-in-a-lifetime love story of French scientists who died capturing unprecedented volcanic explosions, much like the one shown on the poster. —SB
Read IndieWire’s review here.
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“Decision to Leave”
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection Park Chan-Wook’s Cannes award-winning noir “Decision to Leave” stars Park Hae-Il as a detective investigating a man’s death in the mountains while being transfixed by his elusive widow, played by Tang Wei. Their forbidden intimacy is hinted at with the emotionally removed poster, their wrists handcuffed together over the etching of a corpse. —SB
Read IndieWire’s review here.
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“Blonde”
Image Credit: ©Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection Ana de Armas transformed into Marilyn Monroe for Andrew Dominik’s “Blonde,” which reimagined the inner psyche of the “Some Like It Hot” icon. While the film incited debates over its portrayal of the late actress, the artwork for the feature is undeniably stunning. —SB
Read IndieWire’s review here.
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“Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection The psychedelic nature of the “Everything Everywhere All at Once” poster fully embodies the title of the film. Written and directed by the Daniels, comprised of Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” is a critically acclaimed indie take on multiverse movies. Michelle Yeoh stars as a laundromat owner who has a brush with her parallel life in a race to connect with her daughter, played by breakout star Stephanie Hsu. James Hong, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Ke Huy Quan round out the ensemble cast. —SB
Read IndieWire’s review here.
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“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed”
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” chronicles the life of photographer and activist Nan Goldin, as seen through the lens of filmmaker Laura Poitras. Goldin founded the advocacy organization P.A.I.N (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now) and focused her activism against the Sackler family behind Purdue Pharma, which distributes Oxycontin. —SB
Read IndieWire’s review here.
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“Vengeance”
Image Credit: ©Focus Features/Courtesy Everett Collection B.J. Novak’s directorial debut will swallow you whole, much like the poster hints as Novak’s podcast journalist character finds himself underneath a massively daunting cowboy hat. Novak, who wrote, directed, and starred in the Tribeca Film Festival-selected feature, plays Ben, a cocky celebrity reporter who is unexpectedly called to Texas to attend the funeral of a past hook-up. Soon, Ben is caught up in a true crime conspiracy, and must uncover what really happened to his presumed ex. —SB
Read the review here.
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“TÁR”
Image Credit: ©Focus Features/Courtesy Everett Collection Todd Field’s masterful “TÁR” landed at #2 on IndieWire’s list of the best films of the year. Of course, that also means the feature has one of the best posters. Cate Blanchett transforms into problematic conductor Lydia Tár, who faces a professional reckoning after her personal life becomes clouded in controversy. —SB
Read the review here.
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“All That Breathes”
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection Shaunak Sen’s “All That Breathes” documentary premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and focuses on two Muslim brothers living in Delhi, where the air is so toxic, birds frequently fall dead from the sky. The duo founded veterinary operation Wildlife Rescue to save pigeon-like birds black kites, and the poster shows the intimate conversation needed to save the animals amid toxic waste. —SB
Read IndieWire’s review here.
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“Barbarian”
Image Credit: ©20th Century Studios/Courtesy Everett Collection The art for Zach Cregger’s indie horror film “Barbarian” harkens back to giallo film posters of decades past. The film follows Tess (Georgina Campbell), a woman who is uneasily staying with a stranger (Bill Skarsgård) in a double-booked Airbnb owned by a former actor facing a #MeToo scandal (Justin Long). Complete with a jaw-dropping twist, “Barbarian” is just as eye-popping as its poster. —SB
Read the review here.
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“Spin Me Round”
Image Credit: ©IFC Films/Courtesy Everett Collection Alison Brie leads and co-wrote Jeff Baena’s dark comedy “Spin Me Round” about a restaurant chain manager who is whisked off to an Italian corporate retreat with the franchise owner, played by Alessandro Nivola. Part #MeToo drama, part indictment of bodice-ripping novellas, and all cringe comedy, “Spin Me Round” also stars Aubrey Plaza and Molly Shannon. —SB
Read the review here.
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“Don’t Worry Darling”
Image Credit: ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection Olivia Wilde’s controversial “Don’t Worry Darling” didn’t leave anything to be desired when it came to the art design. While Florence Pugh and Harry Styles starred as a picture perfect 1950s suburban couple, their Palm Springs-based surroundings grew more and more mysterious, marking the downfall of both their marriage and perhaps society itself. —SB
Read the review here.
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“Crimes of the Future”
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection There’s plenty to be seen (and heard) during David Cronenberg’s “Crimes of the Future,” starring Viggo Mortensen and Léa Seydoux as celebrity performance artists who publicly showcase the metamorphosis of human organs. However, when a National Organ Registry investigator (Kristen Stewart) catches wind of their experiments, the new mission becomes clear: Organ transplants will lead to the next phase of human evolution. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, and was accompanied by a trailer that simply warned: “It is time to stop seeing. It is time to stop speaking. It is time to listen.” —SB
Read the review here.
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“Babylon”
Image Credit: ©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection Damien Chazelle’s 1920s epic “Babylon” captures the wild West of Hollywood amid the rise of talkie films. Margot Robbie leads the feature as an unhinged rising starlet, while Brad Pitt plays an aging actor looking for his next big role. Diego Calva, Samara Weaving, and Tobey Maguire also star. —SB
Check out first reactions to the film here.
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“She Said”
Image Credit: ©Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection The birth of the #MeToo movement and breaking of the Harvey Weinstein abuse scandal is at the center of Maria Schrader’s “She Said,” starring Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan as the real-life New York Times journalists who exposed the assault claims. The omnious poster for the film that deals with grappling over going on the record with rape charges reminds audiences that it really can be anyone who endures abuse. —SB
Read IndieWire’s review here.
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“Men”
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection Alex Garland’s surreal A24 thriller “Men” places Jessie Buckley in the frought wilderness of gender relations after the loss of her husband. Add in an eerie forest and all hell (literally) will break lose. Is this the Garden of Eden, or a cursed purgatory? —SB
Read IndieWire’s review here.
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Image Credit: ©Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection Noah Baumbach’s Netflix film “White Noise” did the impossible: bring Don DeLillo’s 1985 novel to the big screen. Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig star as a suburban couple forced to flee their home in a suburban college town after an Airborne Toxic Event. The commentary on the commercialization of existential crises driven by consumerist tendencies is framed by the deliciously campy character posters. —SB
Read IndieWire’s review here.
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“Pearl”
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection Ti West’s sequel to “X,” titled “Pearl,” acts as a prequel to the slasher film. Mia Goth is back as the titular psychopath who wields her sexuality like a weapon… literally. Inspired by the Technicolor film era, the poster for “Pearl” brings old Hollywood sensibilities to a very new and bloody genre. —SB
Read IndieWire’s review here.
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“Not Okay”
Image Credit: ©Searchlight Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection Warning: Unlikeable female protagonist alert… with a very likeable poster. Zoey Deutch plays a depressed yet entitled millennial who fakes a trip to Paris and subsequently pretends to be a survivor of a terrorist attack. Dylan O’Brien also stars as her fuckboy love interest in the biting satire. —SB
Read IndieWire’s review here.
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“Nanny”
Image Credit: ©Amazon/Courtesy Everett Collection Nikyatu Jusu’s Sundance award-winning thriller “Nanny” stars Anna Diop as a Senegalese immigrant who takes a babysitting job for a wealthy New York City couple, played by Michelle Monaghan and Morgan Spector. Yet she remains haunted by her life back home and her own child she left behind. —SB
Read IndieWire’s review here.
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“Top Gun: Maverick”
Image Credit: ©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection Tom Cruise gazes at the sky in the poster for “Top Gun: Maverick,” the long-awaited sequel to the 1980s classic. Helmed by Joseph Kosinksi, “Maverick” proved to be the blockbuster of the year, soaring to the top of the box office charts and even landing a theatrical re-release in December. —SB
Read IndieWire’s review here.
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“We Need to Talk About Cosby”
Image Credit: Showtime It can’t be easy to come up with promotional imagery for something as uncomfortable as “We Need to Talk About Cosby,” but Showtime nailed it. With bright colors and a classic Cosby sweater, the poster zeroes in on the comedian and alleged sexual abuser’s silhouetted face, hinting at the darkness now swirling around his work and legacy. The text stops viewers from looking any further — because before we reexamine the work or look to the future, we need to talk about Cosby. —PK
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“Atlanta”
Image Credit: FX The last “Atlanta” poster keeps it simple, but weird, encapsulating the best of a series and season that fired on all cylinders until the bitter end. The leads glow in shades of orange, and the peaches over their eyes mean we can’t see where they’re looking — and also hints at the finale and how much we can trust anything we see. —PK
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“The Baby”
Image Credit: HBO “A little terror” promises the poster for “The Baby,” and that might be an understatement — but the image of a shrieking shadow cast from an innocuous toddler’s silhouette does prime the viewer for this show’s cheeky but sinister journey. The baby is a little terror in the way that most babies are, and Natasha (Michelle de Swarte) experiences more than a little terror in taking care of and trying to escape it — proverbially clawing away from this small thing just like her trapped shadow in the poster. —PK
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“The Bear”
Image Credit: FX This is the rare poster on this list to feature a character ensemble edited together, because like the FX series about a cutthroat Chicago kitchen, the poster for “The Bear” is doing the most. We’ve got a beleaguered Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) surrounded by his staff, with quintessentially Chicago imagery like the skyline and L train. It’s a poster that gets better once you’ve seen the show, especially that finale. —PK
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“Búnker”
Image Credit: HBO There’s a lot going on here — on the poster, in the house, and in Vladimiro’s (Bruno Bichir) head. Vladimiro is literally pictured beneath his house, in place of the bunker where he seeks peace on this Mexican series. The tagline, “El fin del mundo seria trágica si no fuese absurdo” (“The end of the world would be tragic if it were not absurd”) echoes the chaos pictured, and foreshadows the tangled threads of Vladimiro’s world. —PK
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“Cheer”
Image Credit: Netflix “Cheer” outdid itself with a much-anticipated second season, and with this poster ahead of the January premiere. Seeing a cheerleader pictured mid-toss without the ground or her team around her has a startling effect, suspending her against the sky as if she’s falling from much greater heights than she would be. And even with meticulous gymnatic control, it’s a photo that mirrors the show’s high drama with what it could lead up to — either a perfect landing or a catastrophic crash. —PK
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“Irma Vep”
Image Credit: HBO So much of “Irma Vep” is dismantling perceptions of celebrity and entertainment, and the poster for HBO’s limited series leans in gleefully. Mira (Alicia Vikander) casts a large presence (in her Irma Vep custom velvet costume), her image unspooling into movie film that the rest of the characters perch on, peek through, or lean over. It takes a village to create the fictitious Irma Vep as much as to maintain Mira’s own facade, and that couldnt’ be clearer. —PK
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“Obi-Wan Kenobi”
Image Credit: Lucasfilm Ltd. Disney released a handful of character posters for the Obi-Wan Kenobi prequel series, but none is as potent as that of Ewan McGregor reprising the title role. McGregor looks exactly as he last did donning the famous Jedi’s robes in “Revenge of the Sith” (the series picks up 10 years later), but the poster gives us what no Star Wars film has: McGregor’s Obi-Wan along with the iconic silhouette of Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen). Vader appears against the twin suns of Tatooine to illustrate that his past isn’t all behind him, and the entire image dissolves into those Tatooine sands at the edges. —PK
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“Moon Knight”
Image Credit: Marvel Studios Oscar Isaac has multiple identities and personalities in “Moon Knight,” a twist only slightly teased in the poster where Stephen (or is it Mark? It feels like Mark) blends into his concealed alter ego. It’s hard to tease much about “Moon Knight” without spoiling it, including in poster form, but it’s a striking image nonetheless. —PK
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“Ms. Marvel”
Image Credit: Marvel Studios The “Ms. Marvel” poster might seem pretty straightforward at first glance, but it teases everything that made Marvel and Disney’s series so charming. From Kamala’s (Iman Vellani) tentative teen posture to her homemade costume, it’s viewers’ first introduction to the show’s personality — and to it’s vibrant visual storytelling, with distinct colors and a subtle pop art aesthetic. —PK
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“The Patient”
Image Credit: FX Kudos to “The Patient” for a poster that depicts the seemingly infinite entrapment of its main character while luring viewers in with the star power of Steve Carell’s face. It also hints at Sam’s (Domhnall Gleeson) feeling of being trapped in his own mind and cycle of violence as he looks directly out at the viewer. —PK
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“Primal”
Image Credit: Adult Swim How can a poster be so violent yet so cute? Season 2 of “Primal” both asks and answers the question, with Eldar (Fred Tatasciore) pictured riding a dinosaur into battle while they’re both assaulted with arrows. It depicts not only the characters but this leg of “Primal,” which will become an anthology in future seasons; the old series charging into the air in a blaze of glory before it changes forever. —PK
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“Anne Rice’s Interview With the Vampire”
Image Credit: AMC “Anne Rice’s Interview With the Vampire” poster keeps it simple but elegant — just as Lestat (Sam Reid) would prefer. The series’ three core vampires — its titular interview subject at the center — stand atop the rooftops of New Orleans, their shadows mimicking but not remotely blending into the brooding gargoyles around them in the cloudy night sky. The message is implicit and oh-so-clear: The nights, and this city, and this story, are all theirs. —PK
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