David Fincher’s Gone Girl is set to be one of this fall’s biggest films, and its early October release date, falling on the same weekend as Fincher’s 2010 drama The Social Network, means that the studio is hoping for a potential Oscar run. However, the release date is not the only cue Gone Girl is taking from The Social Network. That film had a terrific teaser poster, with a memorable slogan (“You don’t get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies”) that teased what the film was about without explaining too much. It also had a Facebook menu on the side, although it was a feature that was hard to examine from a distance. Likewise, Gone Girl‘s poster has a mysterious tagline and requires the viewer to get in close to read the snippets of news crawl at the bottom.
The Gone Girl poster features the tagline “You Don’t Know What You’ve Got ‘Til It’s…,” but leaves out the word “Gone,” the biggest giveaway to the film’s title. The cloud above a search boat almost looks like an explosion from a magic trick trying to make something disappear, a sly nod to the missing persons mystery from the film. However, moviegoers unfamiliar with Gillian Flynn’s thrilling worldwide bestseller may walk away from the poster more perplexed than excited.
For those looking for more clues as to what the story entails, they can strain to see some of the text from the news crawl at the bottom. Nevertheless, without a title or any cast or crew info, it is questionable whether or not the poster will entice moviegoers to check out Gone Girl when it reaches theatres on Oct. 3. If I had not read the book or knew of its upcoming film adaptation, starring Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike and Neil Patrick Harris, I may not have given the poster more than a glance. Perhaps the marketing department for Fox’s thriller is trying to build the mystery slowly.
Stay tuned for the Gone Girl‘s trailer, which should be online later today, and check out the ambiguous poster below and let us know if you think it makes for a good teaser.
