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Are there two styles of Halloween daybill?

Hey guys and gals!

I've heard whispers along the way that there are two different Halloween daybills in circulation, with the key difference being their size. Can anyone confirm whether this is true? Assuming it is, then I'm going to have to figure out if I have original or RR versions! 

Comments

  • Is the RR less than 30" long? Whilst original 30"? 
  • edited July 2016

                                                            Halloween ( 1978). Two slightly different daybills both printed by M.A.P.S. The only distinction appears to be a small difference in size and where the M.A.P.S. printer's credits appear on the posters. As you can see above, the one line of credits appear directly under the image on the one which is the shorter daybill ( on the right )  and the other longer daybill ( on the left ) has the line of credits printed a very small way down from the image.

    I firmly believe the film wasn't re-released but one is only a second printing frr the first release. The poster images are the same so does it really matter? Around this period of time in Australia there were two versions of some daybills printed for the same film apparently as the original and then as an early second printing by the same printer, but very often by another printer, for whatever unknown reason.

  • Raiders of the Lost Ark daybill has the same sort of variation in terms of sizing and credit placement...
  • It all seems to be purely in the size of the border; the image itself and the placement of the text seem the same. For example, look at the shadow on the railing above the 'n' in 'everyone' - the spacing looks exactly the same. But a size variation has to mean a second print run, yeah? And if there are other daybills (eg. Raiders) that show the same variation, then is there a case to start listing these daybills as '1st release' and '2nd release'? And further to that, does anyone have any theories as to which of the two releases would be rarer?
  • Reasonably common to see two lengths between 1979 - 1981ish. Also same posters printed on matt & gloss paper. I am guessing, but there may have been a change or update in machinery around this time.

    Titles with two lengths from orig release include: Moonraker, Rocky 2, Friday 13th, Fame, Spy Who Loved Me R80s, Mad Max etc. IMO many of the blue Mad Max posters now described as R80s were actually used for orig release.

    There are exceptions and oddities, but as a general rule any daybill under 29 inches was printed post 1978. Same goes for gloss paper. Assault on Precinct 13 is a good example. Measures 30 inches but on gloss paper and 1st Aust release in 1979.

  • Pancho said:
    It all seems to be purely in the size of the border; the image itself and the placement of the text seem the same. For example, look at the shadow on the railing above the 'n' in 'everyone' - the spacing looks exactly the same. But a size variation has to mean a second print run, yeah? And if there are other daybills (eg. Raiders) that show the same variation, then is there a case to start listing these daybills as '1st release' and '2nd release'? And further to that, does anyone have any theories as to which of the two releases would be rarer?

    Second printing  and not second release mentioned above I believe. Both from the original release.
  •   Mark said:

    Reasonably common to see two lengths between 1979 - 1981ish. Also same posters printed on matt & gloss paper. I am guessing, but there may have been a change or update in machinery around this time.

    Titles with two lengths from orig release include: Moonraker, Rocky 2, Friday 13th, Fame, Spy Who Loved Me R80s, Mad Max etc. IMO many of the blue Mad Max posters now described as R80s were actually used for orig release.

    There are exceptions and oddities, but as a general rule any daybill under 29 inches was printed post 1978. Same goes for gloss paper. Assault on Precinct 13 is a good example. Measures 30 inches but on gloss paper and 1st Aust release in 1979.


    Halloween was released in Australia on the First of June, 1979 ( IMDB source ) if anyone is interested.
  • Sometimes I wonder if they had two machines running at once, hence the same posters in different sizes. The Thing, Blue Brothers and Flying High are some more I thought of that appear in differing lengths.

    16mm came out 6 - 18 months later than cinema and they had a good supply of daybills (5 included with each film hire). You have to ask did Fox initially order an extra 500 posters and have their money outstanding all that time, or did they order them later when they actually knew the film would have a 16mm release?

    The mind boggles ...

  • Sorry Hondo, I did mean to say '1st printing' and '2nd printing'. As a collector I know i would want one of each, but would certainly want a 1st printing. The question for me remains: is the difference official enough to warrant differentiation? Let's face it - a first print novel is far more desirable than subsequent printings.
  • Mark said:

    Sometimes I wonder if they had two machines running at once, hence the same posters in different sizes. The Thing, Blue Brothers and Flying High are some more I thought of that appear in differing lengths.

    16mm came out 6 - 18 months later than cinema and they had a good supply of daybills (5 included with each film hire). You have to ask did Fox initially order an extra 500 posters and have their money outstanding all that time, or did they order them later when they actually knew the film would have a 16mm release?

    The mind boggles ...


    The three examples you mentioned all are for a different distributor than Halloween. Maybe there could have been two machines running at M.A.P.S. where the two sizes of Halloween were printed of exactly the same design but for Flying High, The Blues Brothers & The Thing, these three films were all printed by two different printers for each of the three titles and aren't exactly the same in design. Just saying.
  • Pancho said:
    Sorry Hondo, I did mean to say '1st printing' and '2nd printing'. As a collector I know i would want one of each, but would certainly want a 1st printing. The question for me remains: is the difference official enough to warrant differentiation? Let's face it - a first print novel is far more desirable than subsequent printings.

    Were the two  Halloween daybills printed by M.A.P.S. at the same time, as Matt has thought about, on two different machines ? I would have thought that unlikely and possibly more costly but it can't be ruled out. This is a subject we can discuss, and it is very interesting to do so, but I am positive the facts behind the two printings and exactly when they took place will never be established., especially as they were printed by the same printer M.A.P.S.
  • Pancho said:
    Sorry Hondo, I did mean to say '1st printing' and '2nd printing'. As a collector I know i would want one of each, but would certainly want a 1st printing. The question for me remains: is the difference official enough to warrant differentiation? Let's face it - a first print novel is far more desirable than subsequent printings.


    I would opt for the 30 inch versions on matt paper, where possible, Mark.

    Others are more suspect in this period around the early '80s.


  • I would say that it seems this is similar to the U.S. situation with The Terminator in 1984, which was released as the studios were switching from 27x41 one-sheets (with white borders) to 27x40 one-sheets (with no white borders, a "full bleed").

    There are one-sheets for The Terminator that are printed both ways. Obviously one might have been printed first (likely the border version) but they could have been printed at the same time.

    So when we auction either version we add the following:

    "There are two versions of this poster. One measures 27" x 40" and has no borders and the other measures 27" x 41" and has blank white borders at top and bottom. The poster in this auction is the version that measures 27" x 41" and has blank white borders at top and bottom."

    So I would say the same might be true for Halloween Australian daybill. I already add the following whenever I auction this poster:

    Note that there are two different versions of Australian Halloween daybills. One measures approximately 13" x 30", and the other measures 13 1/2" x 27 3/4". I have discussed this with Australian experts, and they think that this is because this movie came out at the time that printers of daybills switched from the ones that were 30" long to the ones that were slightly under 28" long, and because this was made at that exact time, there was a version of the daybill in each size. No one I talked to could say that one pre-dated the other, and they told me that as far as they know, both sizes are considered "first release" by Australian collectors. If anyone knows more about this, please e-mail us and we will post it here.

    To date we have received no hard further information. and I don't think the above thread really adds any either.







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  • Bruce said: 


    Note that there are two different versions of Australian Halloween daybills. One measures approximately 13" x 30", and the other measures 13 1/2" x 27 3/4". I have discussed this with Australian experts, and they think that this is because this movie came out at the time that printers of daybills switched from the ones that were 30" long to the ones that were slightly under 28" long, and because this was made at that exact time, there was a version of the daybill in each size. No one I talked to could say that one pre-dated the other, and they told me that as far as they know, both sizes are considered "first release" by Australian collectors. If anyone knows more about this, please e-mail us and we will post it here.

    To date we have received no hard further information. and I don't think the above thread really adds any either.

    For the record I believe both daybill sizes are from sometime during the original first and only theatrical release that occurred in Australia.
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