The 10 Highest And Lowest Scoring Posters Of 2024.

Do posters drive the box office? No. At least not singlehandedly. However, when looking at the 10 highest and lowest scoring artwork of 2024, the top posters align closely with the end-of-year box office.

Ten posters earned an A grade, with DESPICABLE ME 4 landing a fraction higher than the teaser poster for BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE. Of the ten, LILO & STITCH is the only one that has yet to arrive in theaters.

Here are a few observations: BEETLEJUICE and DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE appear twice on the list. Five of the films rank among the ten highest grossing films of the year, with BAD BOYS FOR LIFE currently ranked 11th.

The only big disconnect is JOKER: FOLIE A DEUX, which faltered at the box office despite a high scoring poster.

It’s also worth noting that all of these are posters for sequels. That shouldn’t surprise you, given how well-known IP dominated the box office in 2024. The highest-scoring original one-sheet of the year was for IF, which earned an A- and placed 18th among all artwork. The film currently ranks as the 21st highest grossing movie of the year and third highest non-sequel behind IT ENDS WITH US and THE WILD ROBOT.

Things get more interesting when we look at the ten lowest-scoring posters. None of these titles come from existing movie IPs. Three of the films—MICKEY 17, SINNERS, and NOVOCAINE—arrive in 2025, and BETTER MAN and PRESENCE are scheduled to expand in January. Of the remaining five, THE BIKERIDERS made the most at the box office, grossing $21M. CUCKOO, LORD OF THE RINGS: THE WAR OF THE ROHIRRIM, MEGALOPOLIS, and THE APPRENTICE failed to cross the $10M mark.

What’s frustrating about the bottom ten is that it features some of our favorite artwork of 2024. Faithful readers of The Quorum know that MICKEY 17 is one of the films we’re rooting for. Not only do we love the trailer, but we’re also fans of Robert Pattinson’s 17 concentric silhouettes in the poster. There is an overarching aesthetic to the material that makes us want to know more.

The same can be said for the striking bloodied bandage across Hunter Schafer’s forehead in the CUCKOO poster. Combined with the beautifully curated campaign for LONGLEGS, Neon emerged as one of the most daring marketers in the business.

More recently, Paramount released a darkly playful poster for NOVOCAINE. Evoking the board game Operation, the artwork leans into very clever humor, from the “Numbing Soon” tagline to the witty injuries like a fried knuckle sandwich. In all likelihood, this poster scored at the low end because it requires a closer look to fully appreciate its genius.

The bottom ten also speaks to a more significant systemic problem that theatrical faces on the cusp of 2025. That is the inherent headwinds that marketing departments face when designing a campaign for non-sequels. Could posters like MICKEY, CUCKOO, and NOVOCAINE be too smart for their own good? Do audiences take the time to appreciate thoughtful and nuanced key art? Or do they only want the familiar? Sadly, signs point more and more towards that latter.