Goonies Ripoff Art
Check out this cover art from the UK.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/images/B00004CLVW/ref=dp_image_0/27 9-2556376-0101157?ie=UTF8&n=573398&s=video
"...and an Ape that's even Rapier than Rape Ape!""
actually i don't know exactly when it began, but those types of Frazetta(esque) illustrations were frequently used for many action/adventure/comedy movie posters of the 1980s, and 'the goonies' was definitely not the first to use it.. this particular cover-art you've posted (the vhs cover was different in the u.s.a.) actually reminds me more of the original 1983 'national lampoon's vacation' poster, although again, 'vacation' didn't pioneer this 'look' for posters either - it was just an almost standard genre of poster art for lots of films at the time.. i don't think we can say any one was 'ripping-off' another..
https://www.movieposter.com/posters/archive/main/79/MPW-39967
Yeah, I'm aware that the style is older than the Goonies, but look at the background and compare it to this:
http://www.movieprop.com/tvandmovie/reviews/goonies.jpg
"These corporate bag munchers owe me $630 for my goddamn flex account!"
i don't know, i guess the posters are similar in that they both have skulls, but like i was saying - frank frazetta made that whole style popular decades earlier in his paintings for "fantasy" novels, so if anyone was being "ripped off" it was probably artists paying "homage" to frazetta.. he'd made that style of art so "iconic" that there were literally dozens of action/adventure/fantasy movie posters in that style during the 70s & 80s - and then over time the style became so recognizable that it was "parodied" for comedies as well - where the "hero" became a middle-aged suburban dad, or a 12 y/o boy, etc, and the sword became a tennis racket, or a flashlight, etc.. i doubt anyone looked at that particular 'goonies' poster and decided to "rip it off"..
http://www.majorspoilers.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03a/darkhorsejune 09/ConanFrazetta3.jpg
http://heroicfeetasy.wifeo.com/images/Art-FF-GF-019-frazetta.jpg
http://www.moviepostershop.com/star-wars-movie-poster-1020189505.jpg
Yeah, okay, "rip-off" was probably a strong term. I guess what I meant was "highly reminiscent of," given the similar target audiences of Frog Dreaming and The Goonies, and the era, especially when you consider that the two films had little in common otherwise.
"These corporate bag munchers owe me $630 for my goddamn flex account!"
well yea, they're definitely similar...for the reasons outlined. it's like saying two Marilyn Monroe impersonators are "highly reminiscent" of each other.. they very likely have never seen each other perform, or ever even heard of each other.. they're similar because they're both referencing the same thing.
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