“Back to the Future” (バック・トゥ・ザ・フューチャー), Original Japanese Home Video Promotional Poster, 1985 Film, B2 Size (51 × 73 cm) C193
This is an original Japanese B2 promotional poster issued by Toho for Back to the Future (バック・トゥ・ザ・フューチャー), Robert Zemeckis’s landmark 1985 time-travel adventure starring Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and Thomas F. Wilson. Unlike the standard Japanese theatrical B2, this is a scarcer home video / consumer promotional style poster, using the classic key artwork together with a strip of film stills designed to showcase the film’s characters, comedy, romance, and time-travel spectacle.
Original Japanese promotional posters for Back to the Future are highly collectible, and this example is especially desirable in excellent condition.
Film background
Produced by Steven Spielberg and directed by Robert Zemeckis, Back to the Future follows teenager Marty McFly, who is accidentally sent from 1985 back to 1955 in the DeLorean time machine created by eccentric inventor Doc Brown. Trapped in the past, Marty must ensure that his future parents fall in love while finding a way to return to his own time.
The film became one of the defining popular movies of the 1980s and remains a masterpiece of commercial storytelling: funny, romantic, suspenseful, brilliantly structured, and endlessly rewatchable. Its images — the DeLorean, the flaming tyre tracks, Marty’s red vest, Doc Brown’s wild experiments, and the 1955 dance sequence — have become central to modern pop culture.
Poster design
This Japanese B2 design is visually superb and highly displayable. The upper field features Drew Struzan’s iconic artwork of Marty McFly stepping from the DeLorean, checking his watch as flames blaze across the road beneath him. The DeLorean’s gull-wing door opens behind him in a halo of light, while the yellow-orange BACK TO THE FUTURE logo appears at the upper left.
What makes this poster especially appealing is the six-panel film-strip layout along the bottom edge. These stills highlight key moments from the film: Doc Brown in his mind-reading device, Marty performing with a guitar, the pivotal 1955 dance kiss between George and Lorraine, Doc’s video camera experiment, Doc in 1955, and a portrait of Marty in his red vest. This gives the poster a strong narrative quality and clearly distinguishes it from the standard theatrical campaign design.
The lower-right copyright line reads ©1985 Universal City Studios, Inc. All rights reserved, with Japanese agency / Toho production markings, confirming it as an official Japanese promotional item.
For collectors, this is exactly what makes the piece so desirable: it combines the definitive Back to the Future key art with a rare Japanese promotional layout connected to the film’s early home video / consumer release history.
Condition
Excellent condition. Please review the photos; they show the exact poster for sale.
This poster is an original Japanese B2 promotional poster.
It is not a reproduction or a reprint.
It is over 40 years old!
Certificate of Authenticity included.
