“Predator 2”, Original Japanese CBS/FOX Video Promotional Poster 1991, Rare Silver Foil Variant, B2 Size (51 × 73 cm) N297

This is an original Japanese B2 promotional poster produced in 1991 for the CBS/FOX Video release of Predator 2. Directed by Stephen Hopkins and starring Danny Glover, Gary Busey, María Conchita Alonso, Rubén Blades, Bill Paxton, and Kevin Peter Hall as the Predator, the film relocated the extraterrestrial hunter from the jungle of the original Predator to the violent streets of near-future Los Angeles.

This particular Japanese poster is especially desirable because it is printed on a highly reflective metallic / silver-foil substrate, creating an extraordinary visual effect that is dramatically different from conventional paper theatrical posters. Produced for Japanese video-store and retail promotion rather than normal cinema display, it is an ultra-rare survivor from the golden age of Japanese physical-media advertising.

Film background

Released internationally in 1990 and theatrically in Japan in 1991, Predator 2 expands the mythology established by John McTiernan’s original film.

Set in Los Angeles in 1997, the story follows LAPD Lieutenant Mike Harrigan, played by Danny Glover, as a violent conflict between rival drug gangs is disrupted by a far more dangerous presence. A Predator has arrived in the city, using its advanced technology to hunt armed humans through rooftops, alleys, apartments, and the urban underground.

As Harrigan investigates a series of seemingly impossible killings, he becomes entangled with a secret government operation attempting to capture the creature and obtain its technology.

Produced by Lawrence Gordon and Joel Silver, the film developed the Predator mythology substantially, revealing new weapons, expanding the creature’s trophy-hunting culture, and introducing the now-famous spacecraft sequence containing trophies from previous hunts.

The shift from tropical jungle to a dense urban environment transformed Los Angeles itself into the Predator’s new hunting ground—an idea that became central to the film’s identity and to this Japanese campaign.

Poster design

This Japanese B2 is a spectacular metallic design dominated by a full-length image of the Predator against the night-time Los Angeles skyline.

The creature stands centrally, towering over the city with its wrist blades extended. Its bio-mask, armour, netted body suit, and mechanical equipment are rendered against a dark urban background filled with neon signs, illuminated skyscrapers, and streams of traffic.

What makes the design exceptional is the reflective silver-foil printing. Rather than merely reproducing metallic surfaces photographically, the substrate itself catches and reflects ambient light.

As viewing conditions change, the Predator’s armour and surrounding cityscape appear to shift in tone and intensity. The effect is particularly appropriate to a creature famous for its light-bending camouflage technology, giving the poster an almost kinetic quality when viewed in person.

The dark blue-black figure contrasts with glowing green, yellow, and red city lights, while the reflective foil amplifies the artificial atmosphere of the “urban jungle.”

Japanese campaign copy

Running vertically down the right side is the bold yellow line:

「1997年ロサンゼルス―奴が大都会へやって来た！」

Approximately:

“Los Angeles, 1997—the creature has come to the big city!”

This immediately establishes the principal conceptual shift from the first film: the Predator is no longer hunting commandos in an isolated jungle but stalking human prey inside one of the world’s largest cities.

Across the lower section appears the blood-red English title:

“PREDATOR 2”

with the Japanese rendering:

「プレデター2」

directly beneath it.

The distressed, dripping treatment of the English title creates a striking contrast with the sleek metallic surface of the poster.

A further red campaign line highlights the production pedigree:

“The near-future super action epic from Lawrence Gordon and Joel Silver, producers of Die Hard!”

reinforcing the film’s connection to two of the defining producers of 1980s and early-1990s action cinema.

CBS/FOX Video release

The upper-left corner carries the original:

CBS / FOX VIDEO

branding, confirming the poster’s home-video promotional function.

At upper right, the enormous:

“8/2 ON SALE”

announcement promotes the Japanese VHS release, with both subtitled and Japanese-dubbed editions advertised simultaneously.

The poster also records the premium retail pricing of the period, including a listed price of ¥16,000 for the VHS release.

This is an important piece of context. In early-1990s Japan, major studio VHS releases were frequently priced primarily for the rental-store and specialist retail market, rather than as inexpensive consumer products. Promotional materials therefore received unusually elaborate treatments intended to stand out inside crowded video shops and electronics retailers.

The use of a costly reflective foil stock is entirely consistent with that premium retail environment.

Collectibility and cultural significance

Japanese video-store posters were temporary commercial materials. They were hung inside rental shops and retail spaces for short promotional periods and generally discarded once the campaign ended.

Foil examples are even more vulnerable than conventional paper posters. Reflective surfaces immediately reveal scratches, creases, pressure marks, rubbing, and edge damage, meaning genuinely well-preserved examples are particularly difficult to locate decades later.

The combination of:

original 1991 production,
Japanese B2 format,
CBS/FOX Video provenance,
rare reflective foil printing,
and one of science-fiction cinema’s most recognisable creatures

makes this an exceptionally desirable piece of early-1990s physical-media advertising.

It also captures a fascinating period when Japanese VHS and LaserDisc promotion could receive bespoke, premium graphic treatments never used for the corresponding theatrical campaign.

Condition

Excellent+. An exceptional surviving example of this extremely unforgiving foil format.

The poster retains strong reflective metallic gloss, deep colour, sharp imagery, vivid typography, and outstanding overall display impact. The foil surface remains remarkably well preserved, with only minimal evidence of handling consistent with an authentic promotional poster of this age.

Because metallic stock readily exposes even the smallest crease or abrasion, the preservation of this example is particularly impressive.

Please review the photograph carefully—it shows the exact poster for sale. Reflections visible in the image are partly the result of the poster’s highly reflective foil surface.

This is an original Japanese CBS/FOX Video promotional B2 from the 1991 release campaign.
It is not a reproduction or a modern reprint.

It is approximately 35 years old.

Certificate of Authenticity included.