“Escape from the Planet of the Apes” (新猿の惑星), Original First-Release Japanese Movie Poster 1971, Rare, STB / Tatekan Size (c. 51 × 145 cm) G157A

“Escape from the Planet of the Apes”, Original First-Release Japanese STB / Tatekan Poster, 1971
Japanese title: 「新猿の惑星」 (Shin Saru no Wakusei — “New Planet of the Apes”)
Size: STB / Tatekan — approximately 20 × 57 inches (51 × 145 cm)
Country / distributor: Japan / Twentieth Century-Fox
Director: Don Taylor
Producer: Arthur P. Jacobs
Screenplay: Paul Dehn
Music: Jerry Goldsmith
Starring: Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Bradford Dillman, Natalie Trundy, Eric Braeden, Sal Mineo and Ricardo Montalbán
First Japanese theatrical release: 31 July 1971
Format: Complete in two original, separate sheets; unbacked
Condition: Very Good+; striking colour and excellent overall display appeal

A spectacular Japanese science-fiction design

An original first-release Japanese STB / tatekan poster for Escape from the Planet of the Apes, the third instalment in the original Planet of the Apes film series.

Almost five feet tall, this extraordinary design combines a blazing red background, enormous vertical Japanese lettering, a spacecraft rising above an illuminated Earth and dramatically enlarged ape-astronaut portraits. Its visual impact comes from the contrast between the expansive space imagery above and the densely layered photographic montage below.

The Japan-specific artwork and distinctly Japanese two-panel format give this poster an identity quite separate from the film’s English-language advertising. Familiar publicity imagery has been transformed through scale, colour and typography into a remarkable piece of early-1970s cinema design.

Preserved in Very Good+ condition, with beautifully strong colour and the complete composition intact, this is an especially impressive display piece. Once framed as a complete STB, it will present beautifully.

The film

Released in 1971, Escape from the Planet of the Apes takes the series in a radically different direction. Rather than following human explorers into an unfamiliar world ruled by apes, it reverses the premise: intelligent apes arrive in a contemporary world controlled by humans.

Having escaped the destruction of their future Earth, Cornelius, Zira and Dr. Milo travel through time and arrive off the California coast. Their discovery astonishes the authorities, and the surviving visitors initially become celebrities, attracting fascination, hospitality and considerable attention. That welcome changes when their knowledge of humanity’s future makes them appear less like harmless curiosities and more like a threat.

Roddy McDowall returns as Cornelius, alongside Kim Hunter as Zira, placing two of the original film’s most sympathetic characters at the centre of the story. Their performances give the film warmth and humour, making its gradual movement towards suspicion and persecution particularly effective.

Directed by Don Taylor, from Paul Dehn’s screenplay, the film moves between social comedy, speculative science fiction and an increasingly tense escape story. Beneath its unusual premise are questions about prejudice, scientific ethics, political power and the treatment of those regarded as outsiders.

Jerry Goldsmith, who composed the score for the original Planet of the Apes, returned for this instalment. Together with the returning performers and Arthur P. Jacobs’ production, his involvement connects the film to the series’ beginnings even as its setting and tone change dramatically.

One of science fiction’s defining film series

The cinematic Planet of the Apes began in 1968, drawing on Pierre Boulle’s 1963 novel. Its reversal of the relationship between humans and apes provided more than an ingenious science-fiction premise: it offered a way to examine civilisation, authority, cruelty and humanity’s confidence in its own superiority.

The original five-film cycle, released between 1968 and 1973, developed those ideas through successive changes of setting and perspective. Rather than simply repeating the same adventure, the films explored a continuing history of conflict between humans and apes, with each instalment altering the implications of the others.

Escape from the Planet of the Apes is a crucial turning point within that cycle. By bringing its characters into the contemporary human world, it makes the series’ moral questions immediate. The apparent strangeness of the visitors becomes less important than the behaviour of the society receiving them.

The film also establishes circumstances that carry the story forward into Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. Its interest in whether attempts to prevent a feared future might help create that future gives it significance beyond its position as a sequel.

For collectors, original publicity from this period belongs to the formative years of one of cinema’s most enduring and recognisable science-fiction series. This Japanese STB captures that history with exceptional graphic force.

Poster design

The defining feature is the intense red field covering most of the upper sheet. Against it, the title 「新猿の惑星」 descends down the left in enormous characters: the opening 「新」 is printed in black, while the remaining lettering appears in pale cream with a heavy black shadow.

This is typography used as a principal element of the artwork. The title establishes the poster’s vertical structure and remains immediately legible beside the expansive space imagery. Its scale is particularly effective in the STB format, where the lettering can extend through a substantial portion of the almost five-foot composition.

At upper right, yellow and black Japanese promotional copy introduces the destruction of Earth, a journey backwards through time and the arrival of a new chapter in the story. The wording explicitly identifies the film as the third instalment in the “Apes” series, preserving the excitement of its original Japanese campaign.

A long, pointed spacecraft rises diagonally through the red background, leaving a brilliant yellow-white trail above the blue Earth. The globe is surrounded by an incandescent halo, while cream and orange textures spread into the surrounding red. These effects give the upper section a vivid, almost apocalyptic atmosphere.

The spacecraft’s diagonal movement provides an effective counterpoint to the vertical title. One directs the eye upwards; the other leads it down into the narrative imagery. The result is a composition that makes full use of its unusual proportions.

Across the lower sheet, two monumental ape-astronaut portraits introduce a more immediate emotional focus. Their warm brown colouring and pale spacesuits stand out against the cooler blue globe, linking the human scale of the story to the vastness of the surrounding imagery.

Smaller scenes add further layers: a standing astronaut holding a helmet, armed figures silhouetted along an elevated structure, a compact group portrait with a yellow circular inset, and the arrival of the spacecraft on a beach. The beach scene at the foot of the poster is especially effective, with the three suited figures confronted by dark silhouettes in the foreground.

The English ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES title appears in deep blue across the lower montage. Japanese production credits, the Panavision and De Luxe Color markings, and the original Twentieth Century-Fox emblem complete the design.

The colours are a major part of its appeal: scarlet red, golden yellow, orange, cream, deep blue and warm photographic browns. At full scale, these contrasts give the poster tremendous presence without sacrificing the smaller narrative details.

Artwork and format unique to the Japanese campaign

This STB develops imagery used in the film’s Japanese advertising, but reorganises it for a dramatically taller composition. It is not simply a standard B2 enlarged without alteration.

The extended red field, colossal vertical title and upward-moving spacecraft create a much stronger sense of height. Below, the portraits and narrative scenes are arranged to reward closer inspection after the main image has caught the viewer’s attention.

The particular combination is unmistakably Japanese: photographic montage, spectacular colour effects, bold vertical lettering and a carefully structured sequence of smaller scenes. The artwork does more than translate a film title; it gives the release a distinctive local visual identity.

For collectors who value Japanese movie posters as graphic objects in their own right, this is a particularly compelling example. It combines the recognition of a major science-fiction title with a composition that feels entirely at home in the Japanese theatrical-poster tradition.

The rarity of the STB / tatekan

Japanese STB / tatekan posters were produced for tall standing-board displays associated with cinemas. Typically composed of two B2-sized sheets arranged vertically, the completed advertisement measures approximately 51 × 145 cm, with an overlap where the sections meet.

Their specialised display role distinguishes them from standard B2 posters. They were intended to attract attention around cinema entrances and other prominent advertising positions, where a tall image could make a considerable impression.

That practical function also made preservation difficult. Pasting, handling, removal and disposal after a theatrical engagement could all damage the paper. The two-sheet construction created an additional vulnerability: both sections had to remain together for the design to survive complete.

Consequently, complete original STBs are generally much harder to encounter than the corresponding B2 format. Their appeal lies not merely in their size, but in the survival of a purpose-designed piece of Japanese cinema advertising.

This example retains both original sections separately and unbacked, allowing the complete artwork and its original construction to be appreciated.

Condition

Very Good+ condition, with particularly strong colour and a beautiful overall presentation.

The red background remains wonderfully vivid, supported by bright yellow and orange accents, strong black title shadows and attractive blue tones around the Earth and English lettering. The principal imagery retains its impact, and the complete poster makes an impressive display.

There are light handling creases, small edge tears and nicks, together with a few minor marginal losses. Some of this wear is concentrated around the sheet edges and the area where the two panels overlap. 

The cream-coloured speckling and mottled effects surrounding the spacecraft and planetary imagery are part of the printed design, rather than all being areas of surface loss.

The reverses show age toning, image show-through, and light storage marks, consistent with the poster’s age. Both sheets remain unbacked.

The line where the two sections meet in the assembled photograph is inherent to the STB construction; it is not a tear through a single oversized sheet. The individual photographs show each panel separately, including the edges and reverses.

The Very Good+ grade reflects the minor edge and handling wear, while the poster’s great strengths are its vivid colour, complete composition and exceptional visual scale. The large title, space imagery and principal portraits remain the dominant features when viewed as a whole.

Please review the supplied photographs carefully, as they show the exact poster offered for sale. Once framed, this will present beautifully and make a striking centrepiece.

Authentication

Guaranteed original Japanese first-release theatrical poster for Escape from the Planet of the Apes, 1971.

Complete in two original STB / tatekan sections, retaining the period Japanese campaign typography, production credits, Twentieth Century-Fox branding and printed Eirin number 46224.

It is over five decades old.

Not a reproduction, modern reprint or later commemorative poster.

A rare and visually spectacular piece of original Planet of the Apes history—combining remarkable Japanese artwork, extraordinary colour and the imposing scale of the STB format.