Continuing a familiar franchise with an unfamiliar cast always poses serious marketing problems. You want to go with what people already know but there is a limit to how much you can borrow from the past. A particular logo (like the teaser for this film) or a prop can be a good way of bridging the gap. Showing the silhouette of Patrick Stewart from the original films is a great idea, at least in theory. And it did work, to a certain degree, in the other designs featuring the reflections in the water.

         But here it seems as if they weren't even trying. They took an idea that had all sorts of potential and then apparently threw it together in about 30 seconds. What we are left with is something that is equal parts laughable and creepy. One can almost imagine an animated gif version of this with James McAvoy's disembodied head bouncing around inside the silhouette screaming "let me out" in a high pitched helium voice. When you debut a new set of posters you do not want the first reaction from most people viewing them to be questioning whether they are fakes or not. This would've been bad enough for a low budget film but for a big budget franchise, it really is inexcusable.

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