The world has lost another genius in the world of movie poster art. Drew Struzan, the man who created posters for Back to the Future, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and many more, has passed away, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He was 78 and had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
Struzan’s blend of photorealism and painterly flourish brought a unique aesthetic to memorable movie art, a medium that seems all but lost in today’s overly slick movie marketing. With Struzan’s art, you could tell you were looking at a painting, which was the point. He seamlessly bridged memorable movie moments and transformed those concepts into stills that felt dynamic and alive. His work defined the ‘80s, but continued to be revered in the ‘90s and beyond. He will be missed, but his art will live forever. Here’s a selection of some of Struzan’s greatest movie posters, plus where you can buy each.
Of note, while we’re listing a variety of links here, a good place to start is a full archive of high-quality Drew Struzan art prints on DrewStruzan.com. Another good, more general selection can be found on FilmArtGallery.
Drew Struzan’s Indiana Jones Posters
Struzan’s connection with the Indiana Jones franchise began with the 1984 film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. From that point, he did the posters for The Last Crusade in 1989 and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in 2008.
You can buy prints of Drew Struzan’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade posters on FilmArtGallery.com.
You can buy prints of the Temple of Doom poster on eBay and elsewhere. Prints of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull are on Galactic Gallery.
Drew Struzan’s Star Wars Posters
Although he did not create the artwork for the first Star Wars posters in 1977, Drew Struzan did the artwork for all “Special Editions” of the Star Wars Trilogy released in 1997, as well as the all-important 1978 re-release of the original film, which, at that time had not yet been retitled “A New Hope,” but was still simply known as Star Wars. This poster, also known as the “circus poster,” inspired a lot of Star Wars artwork that came later.
In 1983, he created the iconic poster for Return of the Jedi, which, in early designs, was still titled Revenge of the Jedi.
Struzan also created all the posters for the theatrical releases of all the prequel trilogy, as well as several other one-off Star Wars posters created for various events and anniversaries.
Struzan’s Star Wars: A New Hope (Style D). For the 1978 re-release, this retro poster was created with artist Charles White and was one of George Lucas’s favorite designs. You can purchase it from Chicago Vintage Posters.
Struzan’s Star Wars: Trilogy, Special Edition posters. These posters redefined Star Wars movie art in the late 1990s. You can find various sets of these posters on eBay
Struzan’s Revenge of the Jedi print can be found on Wayfair. You can buy a set of of his prequel trilogy posters on MoviePosters.com
Drew Struzan’s Star Wars Book Cover Art
Struzan’s Star Wars art also extended to various covers for novels in the 1990s. For the true fan, some of this art represents his best Star Wars work of all time. While his posters didn’t always have room for every character, his wraparound book covers did. Memorable Struzan book cover art for Star Wars novels included (but were not limited to):
- Shadows of the Empire
- Before the Storm
- Shield of Lies (see above, Luke holding his green lightsaber)
- Tyrant's Test
- Children of the Jedi (see the top of this story, which features a rare illustration of the Jedi spirit Callista)
- Ambush at Corellia
- Assault at Selonia
- Showdown at Centerpoint
- The Courtship of Princess Leia
- The Crystal Star
- Darksaber
- The Paradise Snare
- The Hutt Gambit
- Rebel Dawn
- Specter of the Past
- Vision of the Future
- The Glove of Darth Vader
- The Lost City of the Jedi
- Zorba the Hutt's Revenge
- Mission from Mount Yoda
- Queen of the Empire
- Prophets of the Dark Side
You can find various postcards for some of Struzan’s Star Wars book covers at on eBay. Signed art prints of some of his book cover art can be found on eBay. The books themselves can be found on Amazon and elsewhere.
Back to the Future and other Sci-Fi Art
While it’s actually very difficult to list all of the incredible art created by Drew Struzan for various franchises, it would be impossible not to mention Back to the Future. The iconic (yes, in the truest sense of the word) poster of Marty McFly checking his watch in astonishment, while stepping outside of the Delorean, is the stuff of dreams. Famously, Michael J. Fox did not pose for this image; it was created by Struzan himself. However, when it came time to do a similar poster for Back to the Future Part II, which had Doc and Marty doing the watch-checking pose, Struzan was able to “direct” the actors on the set.
You can buy prints of Struzan’s Back to the Future posters on FilmArtGallery.com.
Outside of his famous movie posters for Harry Potter, E.T., and countless others, Struzan was in high demand for creating tribute art for a variety of fictional worlds. And that meant he did amazing pieces of art for Star Trek, Dune, Blade Runner, and more.
