Another 'Notorious' Poster for Biggie Smalls Biopic

It really was about time that Christopher 'Notorious B.I.G.' Wallace received his own biopic. Unfortunately, judging by what I've seen so far, Notorious has been flirting with being one step up from a movie of the week -- and for someone so influential in music history, that's a shame. The latest poster for the biopic has just been released, and like most of the marketing for this film, it leaves you feeling a tad underwhelmed.

Before being crowned "the savior of East Coast hip-hop", Christopher Wallace could have been just another statistic. But, during his short career, he created some of the most influential sounds in hip-hop -- along with launching his producer, Sean 'Diddy' Combs into the spotlight. Notorious was directed by George Tillman Jr. (Barber Shop) and stars Jamal Woolard as Wallace, Angela Basset as his mother, Violetta, and Antonique Smith (RENT) as his ex-wife, Faith Evans.

A few posters have already been released, but in most cases they looked like rejected covers from Source magazine (if you don't believe me, take a gander at some of the previous one-sheets). By the looks of it, this latest poster is going for a decidedly more 'dignified' look -- and in this case, dignified seems to mean ripping off of the Ray poster. Luckily, no matter what the posters or the trailers may look like, at least this movie is going to have one hell of a soundtrack. Check out the full version of this poster after the jump.

Notorious arrives in theaters on January 16, 2009.