Film fans, rejoice: Nearly 20 years of posters for sale at Charles Theatre

By Kate Hayden, khayden@charlescitypress.com

“Charlie’s Angels,” “Insidious” and “God’s Not Dead” are already taken. However, you can still claim a piece of cultural zeitgeist in “Secondhand Lions,” “Grand Budapest Hotel” or “Rugrats in Paris.”

The Charles Theatre is selling movie theater posters dating back to at least 1999 that have sat in storage, theater manager Karen Youngerman said.

“Our boxes are full,” Youngerman said, adding, “Some of them, I’d never heard of.”

The theater sold two recent “Stars Wars” posters for up to $25, but most of the inventory sells for $1 or $5, depending on how new the movie is.

The posters are in varying conditions from good to fair after years of storage. Most of the wear is near the borders of the posters and occurred when it was taken in and out of the display frames.

The Charles Theatre shows one movie a week and orders one or two posters from the distributor, depending on the movie. Youngerman estimates the theater has collected nearly 1,000 posters.

“One of our custodians went through and catalogued everything,” Youngerman said. “We’ve probably sold 100-150 of them.”

Film fans interested in purchasing a poster can check the lists Youngerman has posted on Facebook (@TheCharlesTheatreCC) or visit the Charles Theatre in person to browse through available titles.

“What we’d like people to do is come in, see if there’s something they’re interested in, let us know and we’ll go up and find them,” Youngerman said.

This may be the first official poster sale put on by the theater, but Youngerman said the volunteer-based staff will continue to offer posters for sale after movies leave Charles City.

“I think we’re going to try to stay current. We’ve got a request for one next month already, and as soon as we put our schedule out people start asking, ‘can I get that one?'” Youngerman said. “We keep track of who’s asked.”