Why the One Sheet Is 27 by 40 Inches

Three posters get called “the” movie poster, and they are three different sizes: the current theatrical one, the older theatrical one and the retail one.

The standard size: 27 by 40 inches

The current one sheet measures 27 by 40 inches, or 686 × 1016 mm, in portrait format. Printers and dealers give the same figure. The size lets a cinema swap posters while keeping the same frames and light boxes inside and outside the building. One sheets are always vertical.

Real posters drift: one need not measure exactly 27 by 40 or 27 by 41, and sizes can vary quite a bit. Treat every size here as nominal.

27 by 41: the original one sheet

The one sheet was introduced and standardized in 1909 by Thomas Edison’s Motion Picture Patents Company and printed by lithography. It took its name from the common size of the lithographers’ press bed, 27 x 41. The poster stayed 27 by 41 until about 1985 and was then shortened to 27 by 40. The change was gradual, not a single-year switch.

Handling changed in the same years. Before the mid-1980s one sheets were usually issued folded, and since then they are almost invariably rolled. During the 1980s studios also began offering double-sided one sheets for light boxes outside the theater.

Reference pages that still give 27 x 41 inches as the standard film poster size, such as the Norman Rockwell Museum’s, describe the pre-1985 poster, not the one cinemas receive today.

Is 24 by 36 a movie poster size?

It is a retail size. Film posters sold in general retail are 24 by 36 inches. Commercial advertising posters adopted 24 by 36, while movie posters standardized on the 27 by 40 one sheet for theatrical distribution. The 24 by 36 poster is used outside cinemas, in malls, stations and retail stores, where it fits most common promotional frames. It is not the standard cinema size.

The difference matters for collectors. Modern reproductions often use convenient sizes such as 24 by 36 instead of the theatrical dimensions, which is one sign of a commercial reprint.

The other US sizes

Studios printed a family of sizes around the one sheet, and the biggest releases got the most of them.

Before 1980 one sheets were mostly folded in eighths; after 1980 they were rolled. The 30 x 40 card-stock poster gained popularity in the 1950s because theater owners found it more durable, and the 40 x 60 was printed from the early 1930s and sized exactly as the name suggests. Sheet names are multiples of the one sheet. The three sheet was named for being approximately the size of 3 one sheets side by side. Very few twenty-four sheets survive, and almost none for films made before 1950. Outdoor advertising has its own standards today: the Outdoor Advertising Association of America lists the standard poster at 12 x 24 ft.

Sizes side by side

Small posters

A film poster at 11 by 17 or 12 by 18 inches is a promotional print, not a cinema original, and its compact size suits bulletin boards, store counters and event tables. Those sizes serve promotions, event announcements and compact displays. The 11 by 17 size is tabloid size, which matches standard commercial printing.

Movie poster sizes outside the US

The US one sheet is not universal. Studios print several posters that vary in size and content for domestic and international markets.

The British one sheet is also 27 by 40, but it is less common than the quad. The Australian one sheet is 27 by 40 as well, usually with slightly different art and a censor blurb.

The A and B sizes come from ISO 216, and B1 is 707 x 1000 mm, or 27.8 x 39.4 inches. A1 is 594 × 841 mm, or 23.4 × 33.1 inches. A1 is a common movie poster format in many theaters, especially in Europe. ISO 216 covers paper sizes, not posters as such, and the standard was last reviewed and confirmed in 2021.

If you are making one: the file

At 300 DPI a 27 by 40 poster is 8100 × 12000 pixels, and at 150 DPI it is 4050 × 6000. Build at 27 by 40 with 0.125 inch bleed and 300 DPI art: trim at 27 × 40, extend the canvas to 27.25 × 40.25 and keep text inside a 26.5 × 39.5 safe area. Leave space at the bottom for the billing block, the rating badge and the studio logos; the billing block page covers what goes there.

If you are buying one: the frame

Measure first. Whether a one sheet is forty or forty-one inches long is the greatest source of framing mistakes. The 27 by 40 and 27 by 41 dimensions do not match standard consumer frames, so a one sheet usually needs picture framing or a specialty movie poster frame. A matted one takes a border of 2.5 to 3 inches, which gives a frame of 32 × 46 to 33 × 46 inches.

Next in the film marketing section: the credits at the foot of the sheet are covered in movie poster billing block, and the preview that runs beside it in teaser trailer vs theatrical trailer.