In February, Disney unveiled four character posters for ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story.’ To the uninitiated, these were just cool looking posters, but artist Hachim Bahous quickly accused Disney of ripping off the covers he’d designed for Sony Music France for a series of compilation albums; ‘The Legacy of Funk’, ‘The Legacy of Jazz’, ‘The Legacy of Funk’, and ‘The Legacy of Soul’. Bahous posted the ‘Solo’ posters side-by-side with his album artwork and the evidence is pretty damning.
We sign off for a relaxing weekend and come back to this. SOLO posters by BLT Communications (2017) / album covers by Hachim Bahous (2015). pic.twitter.com/C1OGjLBCeC
— The Poster Boys (@PosterBoysShow) March 5, 2018
For the Italian market, Disney has released the same four posters, but without the text cutouts perhaps to avoid the same comparisons. The change in design also gives a clearer look at the artwork, depicting Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo (yes, that’s Alden Ehrenreich NOT David Hasselhoff, despite appearances), Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian, Emilia Clarke as Qi’Ra, and… uh, Chewie (portrayed by Joonas Suotamo). Unlike the American posters, these actually credit the actors, except for Suotamo.
Check them out below (click to enlarge):
The original (“ripoff”) posters were designed by BLT Communications, who have designed posters for other Disney films including ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’, ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ and ‘Mary Poppins Returns’. It’s unknown if they also designed the new posters. Disney has stated that they are aware of the plagiarism claims and are investigating.
Board the Millennium Falcon and journey to a galaxy far, far away in “Solo: A Star Wars Story,”
an all-new adventure with the most beloved scoundrel in the galaxy. Through a series of daring
escapades deep within a dark and dangerous criminal underworld, Han Solo befriends his mighty
future copilot Chewbacca and meets the notorious gambler Lando Calrissian, in a journey that will
set the course of one of the Star Wars saga’s most unlikely heroes.
Directed by Ron Howard, ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ stars Alden Ehrenreich, Paul Bettany, Emilia Clarke, Jon Favreau, Donald Glover, Thandie Newton, Woody Harrelson, and Joonas Suotamo and opens in theaters on May 25, 2018.
Source: ComicBook.com
