Original Empire Of The Sun Movie Posters

Empire Of The Sun movie posters — Empire of the Sun (1987) — Steven Spielberg's adaptation of J.G. Ballard's semi-autobiographical novel, featuring a twelve-year-old Christian Bale as a British boy separated from his parents during the Japanese occupation of Shanghai — produced a campaign of unusual grandeur for what was simultaneously an intimate coming-of-age story and an epic wartime survival narrative. Find original Empire of the Sun theatrical materials for Christian Bale's film debut, in the role that announced one of the most important dramatic careers of the next three decades. The campaign had to communicate both the epic scope — Shanghai in flames, the Japanese air base, the vast landscapes — and the intimacy of Bale's performance as Jim Graham, a child who has made a profound accommodation with the world's violence. John Malkovich's presence as the American opportunist Basie gave the campaign a second major face, and his menacing, amused quality is well documented in lobby card materials. The film's extraordinary visual quality — Spielberg with cinematographer Allen Daviau producing some of the most beautiful images of either's career — translates directly into campaign materials of considerable pictorial richness. The film received six Academy Award nominations, including for cinematography, film editing, and original score by John Williams — a recognition that the awards-season campaign materials extended its theatrical run into early 1988. British theatrical materials, produced for what was understood as a distinctly British story despite its American production, offer a different visual reading of Spielberg's most underrated film. Original first-run theatrical materials from the 1987 Warner Bros. release are now genuinely scarce. Browse alongside our Steven Spielberg and Adventure pages. All Film/Art Gallery movie posters and items are authenticated originals.