"Terminator Salvation" Helps Us to Realize That Concept Art Beats the Hell Outta Posters

As I veer down the vast hallways of the local multiplex, my wife calls after me, "The chick said 'last theater on the right!'" Yeah, I heard her. But I'm not ready to sit down until I check out the crumpled posters that have been forced into the smudged lightboxes that line the corridors. And why? What do I find but disappointment - not in the movies they're selling, but the art they're trying to pass off as... Well, art.

But is that really what they're trying to do? We all know they have far more spectacular stuff up their sleeves.

We recently caught a glimpse of Terminator Salvation concept art by Christian Alzmann and Warren Fu, and it reminds us that, more often than not, the ideas of 'what could be' are more exhilarating and eye-catching than what they are.

Of course, in this case, it's more of an attack on the posters than the film itself, since any predetermination would deem unfair.

But in the advantage of hindsight, study the concept art of, say, any Star Wars prequel, and you get the idea. My suggestion it to release these gorgeous sketches as posters - so what if they're vaguely (or vastly) dissimilar from what we'll really see in the movie? Asses are already in seats.

It wouldn't be dissimilar from the days of genre exploitation, as opposed to star-power exploitation - where some blood and cleavage was a bigger/better selling point than, say, Christian Bale's face (and really, isn't it still?). Flash forward to the current generation, browsing horror DVDs with that same raunchy, misleading art on the cover.

Hey, even if the movie sucks, the poster would be kickass on your wall.

Click the pics below for access to the high res versions, and be sure to check out the full gallery at Sarah Connor Society.