With “Captain America: Civil War” and “Neighbors 2” coming out within two weeks of each other, it’s likely you’ve seen the posters for these two films alongside each other and noticed something about them…
…they look almost identical. Both posters feature their main characters staring each other down in an effort to tease a big conflict ahead.
They’re not even the first two blockbusters this year to use this in their posters. “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” showed the two titular superheroes in a staring contest on its poster as well. Cliches are common in movie posters, and now the Stare-down Cliché is the one that’s in vogue.
The last time the Stare-down Cliché created an iconic movie image was in 2011 with “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2,” with Harry and Voldemort locking gazes as their final showdown loomed.
A few months after “Deathly Hallows” came out, Ralph Fiennes was included in another staredown poster. This time the film was his directorial debut: an adaptation of William Shakespeare‘s “Coriolanus.”
Put the light source beneath the subjects in the staredown, and you have a horror movie poster ready to go, like the one for “Freddy vs. Jason.”
Or you could use that same lighting for an action film like Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes‘ “Demolition Man.”
Action movies with big one-on-one feuds are perfect for the Stare-down Cliché, especially if, like “Demolition Man” they feature two big-name action stars. For another example, here’s Jet Li and Jason Statham in “War.”
Is someone getting caught in the middle of this conflict? Put him in the middle of the stare-down, as was done for the poster for “A Bronx Tale” to symbolize the clashing influences a father and a mob boss have on an impressionable Italian-American kid.
“Neighbors 2” is far from the first comedy to use the staredown. Seth Rogen and Zac Efron are joining a poster legacy that includes Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway in “Bride Wars”…
…Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller in “Little Fockers”…
…and Jack Nicholson and Adam Sandler in “Anger Management.”
Just how far back does the cliché go? Here’s a poster from the 1983 Chuck Norris/David Carradine flick “Lone Wolf McQuade.”
There will undoubtedly be many more movies in the future that crank out staredown posters to sell themselves, but there will never be one more clever than the series made for “The Men Who Stare at Goats.”
