I review any movie that features a maze or labyrinth. So far that means over 120 reviews and includes some all time great movies. If you are wondering what the best of these movies are, check out this post detailing the top 12 maze movies of all time. I think you will pleasantly surprised just how great and iconic some of these movies are ! Can you guess the #1 movie ?
In this post, I keep with the maze movie theme but pay tribute to the movie posters that promote movies. The best maze and labyrinth movies don’t always have the best ‘maze’ graphics on their posters. In fact, some very average movies have really cool posters with mazes in them. When researching this post I came across a rabbit hole website. That is a website so cool that you can’t stop spending time on it and suddenly 5 minutes becomes an hour. Fair warning. The website is dedicated to movie posters, and it allows you to search for any movie any find it’s poster variations. It is called Impawards. Click later…you might not come back.
I used the site after finding multiple variations of posters for the 2019 movie Into the Labyrinth. The initial poster I found for the movie did not have any maze designs so I was naturally interested in the variations that did feature a maze. Anyway, that became a rabbit hole when I started to research posters for some of the other 120+ maze movies I have reviewed.
Let’s get to the artwork. I narrowed down the top 10 from a first pass group of 21 posters that caught my eye. Some movies have multiple posters on the list, and every single poster contains either a maze or a labyrinth. I hope you enjoy this. Click on any title to read my review of the movie and watch it’s trailer.
The 10 Best Maze Themed Movie Posters
#10 READY PLAYER ONE (2018) (IMDB)
Wait, didn’t you just say each poster would contain either a maze or a labyrinth ? I did. It does. What makes this poster great is the fact that it looks like a pretty typical adventure/science fiction movie poster, but it has a hidden maze. Do you see it ? I guess you could call this an Easter egg…
How about I show you an alternative poster that shows it more clearly:
That’s right, the start of the maze is on the left side of R in Ready, with the goal the egg located in the middle of the O in One. Easy to miss. And yes, this is a solvable maze ! If you have seen the movie this relates to the plot.
This is a terrible movie. Yes, it has an actor you know, Alec Baldwin. Yes, the poster and movie have a labyrinth/maze theme. Form a plot perspective, the idea was strong and interesting, but the execution was just not there, except for the poster ! Very Sci-fi looking with a group of people heading towards the center of what looks like an icy labyrinth. We have an intriguing tagline - “Only One Survives”. An alternative version of the poster replaces the spaceship with pictures of the cast, including Baldwin, but this version is the stronger of the two. Just don’t make the mistake that this means you should watch the movie.
#8 INTO THE LABYRINTH (2020) (IMDB)
The film that inspired this blog post makes it’s debut on the list with this character focused poster. The story takes place in 2 locations and these actors are in our 2 leading roles in those locations. Obviously, you probably know Dustin Hoffman the star in one half of this film. The poster features a circular maze in the background with 2 other characters from the movie. No that is not Donnie Darko, but yes it is a large rabbit.
#7 MAZE RUNNER THE DEATH CURE (2018) (IMDB)
It will not surprise you that The Maze Runner movies would be part of this list. Here is the first entry. An action poster featuring our characters running from the baddies with maze imagery on the side of the paths. I also like the tagline “Every Maze Has An End”.
#6 INTO THE LABYRINTH (2020) (IMDB)
Our first double entry (but not our last). This is my preferred version of this films movie poster. It focuses on one half of the story (of course the one that features our famous actor, Dustin Hoffman) and has slightly larger maze features in the background. The woman in the background appears to be dealing with the maze (accurate from the plot of the movie) It looks more ominous and makes me want to see the movie !
Of all the movies on the list this was the most difficult to choose the best poster from. I had 4 different versions that I liked, including a cool Japanese one. In the end I didn’t pick the most iconic one you are most familiar with. Instead I picked this version featuring the castle in the center of a green maze that looks somewhat like a hedge maze surrounding it.
The 3 additional posters are all honorable mention for this list, so let’s go ahead and look at them now. The first is the most iconic, featuring David Bowie as the Goblin King and a maze for the background. The second is a Spanish language version of the poster featuring the characters around the center scene. There is a small maze leading to the castle at the top of this poster also. And in the Japanese version we get a completely different look (that almost does not fit the movie IMO with the red/pink coloring) with a large white maze covering the top of the poster. It features photo images from the movie instead of artwork like the other versions.
#4 THE MAZE RUNNER (2014) (IMDB)
This is the version of the poster that I have seen most often when researching this film. It features a group of individuals running in between moss covered walls in a giant maze. They are in an elevated location so you can see the scope of the large maze behind them.
We have a Netflix exclusive movie on the list ! Welcome. It is a French science fiction film and this is the French version of the poster. It also feels like the most modern looking of the posters we have looked at so far. The maze superimposed (or reflected ?) on the eye works really well. A great design. It makes you think about what the story might be about.
#2 MAZE RUNNER THE DEATH CURE (2018) (IMDB)
Welcome back Death Cure. This poster version features our characters hovering over their challenge, a huge maze surrounding a central city. This gives new meaning to the term fortification. We get the tagline “Every Maze Has An End” again.
Before we get to my pick of the best movie maze poster let’s look at a few more that didn’t quite make the cut. The Exit Strategy poster features a maze as it’s background; Hell Fest has a barbed wire circular maze behind the devil; Maze features a maze background; Prisoners has many poster variations that feature mazes and some versions which feature a circular maze in the “o” of the title; The Man in the Maze has a maze background and a Man in the Maze labyrinth featured in the title; and the final example is a 3rd poster from Into the Labyrinth with a great circular maze background that didn’t make the cut only because it has no title/details like a normal movie poster. And we also have one more poster from Maze Runner: The Death Cure which features the cast in front of a maze. Active Measures gives us a large circular maze over Putin, a very clean looking labyrinth for another scorch trials poster, a maze of a man’s silhouette for Mister Organ, a woman stied to a chair behind a maze from the movie The Maze and finally a man standing in what looks like a religious building on a marble labyrinth from the Serbian film Labyrinth.
Click on a poster to see a larger version of it !
And now our (my?) #1 poster !
#1 THE MAZE RUNNER (2014) (IMDB)
I want no part of this maze. This is my favorite poster because when I look at it and see the enormous maze in front of them that is what I think. Challenge NOT accepted. The way the maze expands out in all directions and into the horizon seems ominous. The vines covering the stone walls do not give me confidence that this is solvable. The height of the walls mean a fall if you risk climbing them is fatal. There are no good decisions here.
And that concludes our poster contest. If you want to see where a movie is streaming I suggest using justwatch.
Want to know which movies are the best regardless of how their posters look?
