The new record has been set with a 55x59m print of Bollywood film star and producer Akshay Kumar, which was unveiled and verified by an adjudicator from Guinness World Records and an independent surveyor, at an airfield local to Macro Art.

The poster was printed on 36 PVC mesh panels, each measuring 5m x 18m, using an EFI GS5000 UV machine. The panels were then welded together using an FIAB high frequency table (Macro Art has in the past produced a larger, 90m x 60m Paralympics print, but this didn’t qualify for a Guinness World Record as it was assembled as separate panels.

Over 40 staff were needed to help fold and lift the 1.4 tonne poster onto a specially made pallet and 30 to unfurl it at the other end. A total of 250 ground pegs were needed to hold the print to the ground.

The key challenge was handling of the poster, said Macro Art’s technical advisor Adam McMonagle. "It weighed over a tonne and so took a lot of people to move," he said. "We had to fan fold it then fold it onto itself."

The poster took 30 hours to print, reported McMonagle, significantly less time than a job of this epic scale would have taken in the past. "You have to shut down all other work to print something of this size and that could have been an issue a few years ago when printing took longer. But with the speed of our EFI machine, it only took a weekend," he said.

The poster was commissioned by Akshay Kumar’s fan club Team Akshay and the production company of Kumar’s latest film The Boss. It has now been shipped to India to be used to publicise the film.

"We are honored and thrilled to break the world record and make our idol Akshay Kumar proud of his ace fan club," said Team Akshay in a statement. "The only aim…was we always wanted the world to see our idol on a larger than life canvas, just like his persona."

"I am grateful to my fans for this unique gesture which speaks volumes about their eternal love and support," said Kumar. "God bless them all."

The record for the World’s Largest Movie Poster was previously held by Macro Art for a 52m x 52m Michael Jackson print. The poster, detailing the launch of the This Is It album following the singer’s death in 2009, was unveiled in a field near Heathrow to catch the attention of those flying in and out.

Macro Art also holds the record for the World’s Largest Advent calendar, hung from one end of Birmingham city centre’s historic old Town Hall to the other in 2001, and measuring 50m x 20m.