Did Disney Rip Off These 'Solo: A Star Wars Story' Posters?

Fans finally got their first look at the upcoming Star Wars spinoff movie with trailer debut [...]

By Joe Schmidt

Fans finally got their first look at the upcoming Star Wars spinoff movie with trailer debut during last month's Super Bowl, which was followed by a wave of posters kicking off the promotion of the film.

But it looks like Disney and Lucasfilm's posters for Solo: A Star Wars Story might be borrowing from an artist who made similar album covers for Sony Music France in 2015.

Hachim Bahous voiced his displeasure on Facebook alongside a comparison of his commissioned album covers for albums including "The Legacy of Funk," "The Legacy of Jazz," and other collections, with the character posters for the Han Solo spinoff movie. The similarities are difficult to ignore.

Take a look below:

solo stolen posters design star wars disney

The posters were designed by BLT Communications, according to IMP Awards, though the work is not featured on the company's Internet portfolio. BLT Communications has designed many different posters and art assets for various Disney productions, including Mary Poppins Returns, Thor: Ragnarok, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

The posters for Solo: A Star Wars Story might be justified as "homages" or "inspired" by the original album covers, but without permission or even a notice to the original artist in Bahous, the designs seem suspect.

Of course there could be an arrangement between Disney and Sony, which would be unlikely for them to comment on unless asked directly. The posters were likely commissioned and signed off by Disney's marketing team, but it's unclear if they knew of the original album covers for Sony Music France's collection of albums.

Unless an arrangement was made, there could be a possibility of legal action — but it's not clear what that would be at this point. Did Sony commission Bahous to create the artwork, and if so does he retain any ownership of them? Or is full ownership belong to Sony, which could be more likely, and therefore leave the option of filing a lawsuit in their court?

Normally, art influences are much more subtle and therefore less actionable in a courtroom, but in this case a case could be made that the pieces are very similar to the point of plagiarism. Everything from the designs to the color scheme is similar to Bahous' album covers.

We've reached out to Disney, as well as to BLT Communications to learn more about how these posters were created and if there's any agreement in place with Sony, and will update if we receive a response.

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