Aliens: The poster

leading from

Aliens: Making Aliens

 

Jim Cameron went into the office of the head of marketing for 20th Century Fox. 

David Weitzner had a span from March 25th 1985 until some time in 1986 working as president of marketing for 20th Century Fox Film Corp and it wasn't a job that people could really plan to hold onto for that long

So it was the head's last day at the office, the office was all boxed up. 

This would his last meeting before he left the job.

This man was sitting at the desk, he had this little green plastic frog and he would squeeze a bulb to make it hop around a desk.

Camero asked ‘What’s with the frog?’ 

And the man replied ‘It’s my stress frog.’

Cameron response was "Okay, this guy is a casualty"

The man said ‘But I’ve got a one sheet for you.’

And he showed this one sheet which seemed to be a horrible sort of mash-up photography.

He thought that it looked worse than a Roger Corman one sheet because, Cameron, Roger believed in good one sheets. 

Cameron realised that they were not good movies, but at least good one sheets.

He looked at this thing and kind of held it in his hands and  said, ‘Oh, let me tell you exactly what I think of this one sheet,’ and he just slowly sort of crumpled it up into a ball and threw it in the corner. 

The man was working the stress frog. 

Cameron then said, ‘Honestly, if I had a choice between that piece of shit and just an all-black frame, I’d go with the all black frame.' 

As he walked out of the office office and the man behind the desk called somebody up and said ‘He wants it all black!’ 

Cameron realised that this man wasn't really listening to him and so he understood that to be the reason why the poster was black

Final poster

1. Jim Cameron: So I went into the office of the the head of marketing for 20th Century Fox, I literally met him on his last day at the office and his office was all boxed up. I was his last meeting before he left the job. He was sitting at the desk and he had this little green plastic frog and he was squeezing a bulb and making it hop around the desk. And I said, ‘What’s with the frog?’ And he said, ‘It’s my stress frog.’ I’m like, ‘OK, this guy is a casualty.’ (https://gizmodo.com/james-cameron-explains-why-the-original-aliens-poster-i-1848196917)
2. Jim Cameron: “Then he said, ‘But I’ve got a one sheet for you.’ And he showed this one sheet. I think you can get it online, a few of them kind of leaked out. [Note: We weren’t able to confirm which version Cameron is referring to, but if you know, let us know!] And it was this horrible sort of mash-up photography. It looked worse than a Roger Corman one sheet because, like me, Roger believed in good one sheets. Not good movies, but good one sheets. And I looked at this thing and I kind of held it in my hands and and I said, ‘Oh, let me tell you exactly what I think of this one sheet,’ and I just slowly sort of crumpled it up [into] a ball and threw it in the corner. And he was working the stress frog. And I said, ‘Honestly, if I had a choice between that piece of shit and just an all-black frame, I’d go with the all black frame.’ And apparently what happened was I walked out of the office and he called somebody up and said ‘He wants it all black!’ He wasn’t hearing what I was saying. So if you ever wondered why there was literally nothing on the one sheet for Aliens, that’s why.” (https://gizmodo.com/james-cameron-explains-why-the-original-aliens-poster-i-1848196917)