John August coins a term for those beautiful mock posters for existing films: “unsheets”
By stripping away the credit blocks and pithy taglines, unsheets distill films down to their essence — an essence that may not have even been apparent when the movie was released. Studios may own copyright, but fans feel emotional ownership, and these posters reflect that. Ultimately, unsheets aren’t about the movies that came out, but the movies they became.
Here’s my favourite (because it’s for my favourite film):