The year 2020 would have marked the 100th birthday of Ray Harryhausen, celebrate a century of fantasy with a new line of officially licensed merchandise.
Gizmodo is excited to exclusively debut several awesome new artworks based on one of Harryhausen’s best-known films, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad. “Ray Harryhausen is my favourite so getting to do anything for The 7th Voyage of Sinbad is like a dream come true,” Justin Ishmael told Gizmodo. Ishmael’s company, Ish, is spearheading the drive with brand new posters, figures, and stickers. “I love monsters and the Cyclops is probably at the top of my favourite list. I didn’t know Ray, but I went into this project wanting to make him proud and pay respect to his legacy on the year of his 100th Birthday.”
Starting on March 19, three new collectibles will be available on justinishmael.com.
First is this limited edition screen printed poster for the film, featuring the Cyclops, Roc, and more. It’s by Laurent Durieux and is available in a regular edition of 275 (costing $US65 ($106)) and a variant edition of 150 (costing $US75 ($122)). Each is 13 colours and measures 24×36 inches.
“Ahhhhh! The 7th Voyage of Sinbad! So many great memories,” Durieux told Gizmodo via email. “I remember very well that movie that was on TV when I was a kid, probably on a Sunday afternoon sitting on the family couch with my brothers and sister. That movie scared me and all the images were imprinted for life in my brain furrow. So many iconic images in one movie!”
“When Justin offered it to me, I had to pay homage to Ray Harryhausen, the special effects wizard to whom I owe this Sunday scare somewhere in the mid-seventies,” the artist continued. “I just hope this new silkscreen won’t scare that little boy sitting on his family couch somewhere in the 2020s.”
That’s not all though. Next up, Japanese artist PicoPico sculpted a brand new, 4” sofubi toy of the Cyclops with head and arm articulation available in multiple colorways. There’s the movie-accurate colour, “Shadow Glow” mixed marble, and “Durieux,” a colour chosen by the poster artist that comes bundled with the posters. Here are what those look like.
The movie version costs $US65 ($106) and will be sold as a timed sale 24 hours from the one sale. The shadow glow costs $US50 ($82).
Finally, if those things are a bit out of your price range but you still want to represent Harryhausen, a cool $US12 ($20) sticker pack is also coming.
Finding authentic, official Harryhausen merchandise isn’t easy but with the licence now in the hands of Ish, it seems like fans of the iconic artist may have a lot more in their future.
All this is available starting March 19 at www.justinishmael.com.