Movie taglines and film marketing
The line on the poster, and the story behind it.
Which film, which year, the exact wording, who is credited and what the sources say. Plus how posters, billing blocks and trailers are made. Every date and credit linked to the page it came from.
Famous taglinesWriting your own? Start with how to write a movie tagline.
“In space no one can hear you scream”
Alien · 1979
Who wrote it and why it works
- Pages
- 10
- Sections
- 5
- Sources cited
- 108
- Archive and body sources
- 17
- Last checked
- October 21, 2026
A route through the site
- Get the word straightA tagline is not a logline, a slogan or a line of dialogue. Ten minutes on the definition saves the rest.
- Read lines that have a storyAlien, Jaws 2, The Fly, Superman: who wrote each one and what it was up against.3 pages
- See the habits by genre and decadeHorror dares you, comedy sets up a joke. Dated tables show how the one-liner changed.2 pages
- Write one and test itSix steps, a table of moves, and a testing routine borrowed from studios.
- Put it on a posterPoster sizes, billing blocks and trailers, the parts of the sheet around your line.3 pages
Taglines on file
All famous taglines| Tagline | Film | Year |
|---|---|---|
| In space no one can hear you scream | Alien, directed by Ridley Scott | 1979 |
| Be afraid. Be very afraid. | The Fly, directed by David Cronenberg | 1986 |
| Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water... | Jaws 2, directed by Jeannot Szwarc | 1978 |
Wording as printed on the poster named on each page; each page names its sources.
Anatomy of a one-sheet
Film marketingThe tagline is one part of a sheet that also carries key art, a title, a billing block and a rating box. Each part has its own rules, and the film marketing pages explain who sets them.
Newest pages
Famous taglines
Alien’s Scream Line Has a Named Author and Is Literally True
Barbara Gips wrote the Alien poster line after a prescreening, and nobody agrees where she was. The egg poster, the rival line, the physics.
Famous taglines
“Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid.” Was Dialogue First
A line from a scene in The Fly that marketing moved onto the poster: Cronenberg’s account of Mel Brooks, the two plot lines beside it and where it turns up now.
Film marketing
Don LaFontaine and the Voice of the Movie Trailer
Don LaFontaine is the voice behind "In a world..." in movie trailers: how he started, why the line works and where trailer narration stands now.
Writing taglines
How to Write a Movie Tagline
How to write a movie tagline: the working rules, the techniques behind famous lines, the mistakes to avoid and how to test a draft before it goes on a poster.
Film marketing
Teaser or Theatrical Trailer: What Each One Is For
A teaser trailer is a short early tease; a theatrical trailer is the full pitch. Lengths, release timing, theater rules and the stories behind famous teasers.
By decade
The Lines That Sold the 1970s, From Five Easy Pieces to Alien
The best 1970s movie taglines from Five Easy Pieces to Alien, plus the stories behind Jaws, Jaws 2, Superman, Star Wars and the exploitation dares.
How every page is checked
Film archives first
Dates and credits come from the American Film Institute, the Library of Congress and other film archives and industry bodies where they publish them, then reference works and the trade press.
Dated sources
Each page shows when it was published, updated and checked, and each source in its list shows the day it was read. The site is new, so a page's checked date is also its first check; corrections are logged as they happen.
Quoted as printed
A tagline is copied from the poster itself or from a page that reproduces it. When posters differ by country or by teaser, the page names which one.