A standee is a large self-standing display promoting a movie, product or event. They are typically made of cardboard, and may range from large self-standing posters to three-dimensional devices with moving parts and lights.
Standees are typically displayed in theater lobbies or music stores in advance of film or music releases.
In the movie business, the more bookings a theater makes in advance for a given film, the more likely it is to place standees in its lobby because of self-interest to spur consumer interest in its future screen offerings. In recent years, theaters increasingly look to on-site advertising from non-movie companies as a revenue source, which creates occasional friction with film distributors, according to Marketing to Moviegoers (second edition). When standees for Paramount’s Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life incorporated a promotion for the 2003 movie’s tie-in promotion with Jeep automobiles, large theater circuit Regal Cinemas sought payments from Jeep for the exposure in its theaters. Paramount reportedly shifted bookings from 47 Regal theaters to other cinemas that erected the Tomb Raider/Jeep standees without payments from Jeep.
While standees have previously been available only in large quantities, recent advances in digital photography and print-on-demand technology have made them widely available to the public. Several companies now offer these items as party decorations, gag gifts and memorial items for the deceased. Standees can now be purchased as one-off custom products, bringing them to the average consumer as well as large corporations and venues.