Reaching an audience in the home video market is much different than reaching the theatrical audience. That often means the key art that’s used for home video releases is changed significantly from the one-sheets that were available during the theatrical marketing cycle. What I’m going to try and do is see what those changes are and what they mean for the appeal being made.

Sully

When the movie was being sold for theaters there were two posters, one showing Sully with the camera peering through an airplane window and the other showing the plane he piloted sitting peacefully on the waters of the Hudson. For the DVD the designers combined those two, with the shot of Sully straightening his tie looming over the plane on the water and all the passengers huddled on the wings. So there’s not a lot of originality here, they just took the best parts of both posters and mashed them together.

The Magnificent Seven

There’s a bit more original design work on display here, though that’s not saying a whole lot. The home video cover uses the same idea that was used during much of the theatrical campaign, with the seven main characters all walking intimidatingly toward the camera. It doesn’t look like these are the same poses that were used on the theatrical key art but it’s still very similar.