Time is running out to bid on a landmark movie poster in the ComicLink Featured Auction. It’s the very rare Night of the Living Dead 40” x 60” version from 1968. Bidding for the poster ends Wednesday night, November 29, 2017.
“The vintage film industry produced 40” x 60” size movie posters in an extremely limited run of just a few hundred per film and very few have survived for any film. We have heard of just a small handful for this Night of Living Dead offering,” ComicLink President Josh Nathanson said. “For movie theaters, the cost of acquiring and displaying the 40” x 60” posters was up to 20-times the cost of the small one-sheet posters, which is a primary reason why so few were produced. While multiple examples of the smaller one-sheet version of this classic poster are known to exist, ComicLink consulted with several movie poster experts who had never even seen an example of this extremely rare 40” x 60” version.”
The story behind this poster having survived is a serendipitous mix of foresight and luck. “The consignor’s father, Mr. Jack Cataldo, was ‒ during the time the movie was released ‒ the manager of the Palms Theatre (Detroit, MI). The movie was released in the fall of 1968. This poster was displayed in the theater as a coming attraction and as ‘Now Playing.’ At the conclusion of the run, Mr. Cataldo told an usher when he took down the poster to give it to him. Mr. Cataldo rolled it up and took it home. It has been in the possession of the family for nearly 50 years, and is being offered on the market now for the very first time,” Nathanson said.
Night of the Living Dead has gone down in the history of cinema as one of the most important horror films ever made. Its influence has been profound. The 1968 independent zombie film was directed by George A. Romero on a shoestring budget of just $114,000. It opened in October of 1968 and was an initial success, generating $18 million at the box office. The film became a cult classic. Although it was initially criticized for its gory content, the film was eventually selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress which deemed the film culturally and historically significant. It’s the precursor to the many movies with zombies that came after it. It also importantly established a new type of realistic horror set in everyday settings that inspired such later key film franchises as Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street.
“An offering of this extremely rare item is an incredible and perhaps once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for collectors of vintage horror movie posters. The poster is in good condition, with edge and corner wear associated with having been hung in the theater,” Nathanson said.
In addition to the poster, there are hundreds of high quality vintage comic books and comic related original art offerings within the Fall Featured Auction. The comic book lots within the auction will close Tuesday and Wednesday, November 28-29, starting at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT. The Night of the Living Dead 40” x 60” poster is included in the second evening of offerings. The final night of the closings, Thursday, November 30, will focus on high quality comic related original art.
To view ComicLink’s auction schedule and auction previews along with prior auction results, visit their website.
