8 movies that feature printing presses

After it recently came up in conversation that 'Seven Pounds' featured a Heidelberg printing press, it got us wondering... how many other films have printing presses in them?

Well, we’ve done some research and collated a list, and you may be surprised just how many blockbusters have printing presses in them.

Seven Pounds

Will Smith’s character falls in love with a woman who used to print wedding invitations as a hobby and keeps a broken Heidelberg printing press in her garage. I’ll stop there before divulging too much of the storyline, but it’s worth a watch!

Check it out on IMDb here: Seven Pounds

Catch Me If You Can

In this 2003 film, a true story that portrays the life of Frank W. Abagnale, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, an FBI agent is questioning the work done on some counterfeit bank notes, and their quality is being discussed. However, as they have been printed on a Heidelberg, they are all amazed by how real they look.

Check it out on IMDb here: Catch Me If You Can

Inception

The room used as a training base is full of printing equipment, it doesn’t show what type of printing presses they are but the list of printing equipment in there is quite impressive: a galley press, cabinets of type, manual guillotine, perforator, a little offset litho press, and some furniture cabinets. The equipment was rented from The International Print Museum in the US.

Check it out on IMDb here: Inception

The Goonies

A Heidelberg Windmill is used in The Goonies. The main characters, Mike “Mikey” Walsh, Richard “Data” Wang, Clark "Mouth" Devereaux, and Lawrence “Chunk” Cohen end up in a building that the villains, The Fratellis, use. In the scene, the Heidelberg Windmill is printing counterfeit dollar notes.

Check it out on IMDb here: The Goonies

The Green Hornet

The movie starts with Britt Reid (Seth Rogan) being chauffeured to his father’s workplace – The Daily Sentinel newspaper. But to film the scenes inside, the film crew headed to the LA Times building, which is where we see the printing presses.

Check it out on IMDb here: The Green Hornet

Paddington 2

The Paddington movies feature not only an adventure-loving bear, but also a Heidelberg press. Paddington’s cousin, Judy, gets her heart broken and decides that she’s going to become a nun. We’re told she later calms down and finds a new hobby of printing newspapers at school after she finds an old printing press at school, the Heidelberg.

Check it out on IMDb here: Paddington 2

The Book of Eli

!!!WARNING: SPOILER ALERT !!!

Eli, who is played by Denzel Washington, is on a mission to reintroduce the Bible to the rest of the world. He has one copy and must save it from being stolen, so he can take it to publication. One of the final scenes, after Eli has recited the Bible from memory, shows the Bible being printed using block printing.

Check it out on IMDb here: The Book of Eli

Miss Potter

This film is based on the life of Beatrix Potter, the storyteller and illustrator of the Tales of Peter Rabbit books. In 1901, publishers weren’t interested in her book and she ended up privately publishing it.  After the success of the books, she was signed by a publishing company a year later. As the film is all about publishing books, there are printing presses featured throughout.

Check it out on IMDb here: Miss Potter: Miss Potter

Have we missed any? Are there any other films you know of that have printing presses? Let us know!