If you haven’t heard the news yet, the 1981 film classic that forever set a dress code for adventurers in the minds of the general public is coming back to the big screen — actually, to the biggest screens, i.e., IMAX theaters — starting September 7th, for one week only. As with other recent “event screenings” of the landmark motion pictures Jaws and Casablanca, this is basically a promotional stunt keyed around the upcoming drop of the complete Indiana Jones series on BluRay. But that’s okay… any excuse to experience one of my all-time favorites in the theater is fine by me. Here’s the poster for the re-release:

It looks like the work of Drew Struzan, whose signature style seems to have become the default for both the Indy movies and the Star Wars saga, but my understanding is that he didn’t actually paint this one. (Struzan retired from film-poster work following Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in 2008, but I briefly thought he might have been lured back for this one-off project. Guess not.) Of course, I do have a quibble with the inclusion of “Indiana Jones and the” in the title. It’s unwieldy and unnecessary, as I’m pretty sure everybody knows this is an Indiana Jones movie. And I resent the fact that after 30 years of knowing it under one title, we’re now expected to start thinking of this flick by a different name. Um, no. Just as the original Star Wars will never be “A New Hope” for me, this movie is called Raiders of the Lost Ark. Period. Always was, always will be. Lucasian revisionism aside, though, this is a really nice poster. I especially like the reference to the warehouse scene in the upper right, and Indy silhouetted against the Egyptian sunset on the left, both of which are iconic cinematic images that, as far as I’m aware, have never been referenced in any previous advertising art. I wouldn’t mind having one of these in my collection, if anyone out there wants to get me a present. My birthday is coming up in only a couple of weeks, you know.

Incidentally, if you’re concerned that the title or anything else may have been changed within the film itself, rest easy. Senor Spielbergo himself assures us it ain’t so… and also says he won’t be doing any more tinkering with his old films because he “learned from the fans” following the E.T. debacle. Interestingly, he says that while he’s done with digital revisionism, he intends going forward to keep both versions of that film available for those who have a preference. If only his best friend could be convinced of the wisdom of that position…