“Fantasia” (ファンタジア), Original Japanese Re-Release Movie Poster 1972, B2 Size (c. 51 × 73 cm) J53

This is an original Japanese theatrical B2 poster produced for the 1972 re-release of Walt Disney’s Fantasia, featuring Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra, with Japanese distribution credited to Buena Vista.

Measuring approximately 51 × 73 cm, the design translates the film’s marriage of music and animation into sweeping bands of rainbow colour, rising from a small conductor’s silhouette at the foot of the composition.

Film background

Originally released in 1940, Fantasia combines classical music with animated sequences ranging from abstract imagery to mythology, natural history and comic fantasy.

Its musical programme includes Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite and Dukas’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. The latter provides one of Disney’s most enduring images: Mickey Mouse as the apprentice whose borrowed magic spirals beyond his control.

Conceived as an ambitious exploration of animation’s expressive possibilities, the film uses movement, rhythm and colour to give visual form to orchestral music.

Poster design

Broad, textured ribbons of green, blue, violet, pink, orange and yellow fan upwards across the sheet. Their tapered ends converge around the conductor below, suggesting music unfolding into colour.

A delicate winged fairy appears among the upper ribbons, adding a small figurative detail to the largely abstract composition. Across the lower portion, “Fantasia” is printed in expansive red italic lettering, accompanied by the Japanese title and production credits.

The vertical promotional copy reads:

「映像で見るステレオ・サウンド　限りない感動の広がり…」
“Stereo sound made visible—an endless unfolding of wonder…”

The prominent “FANTAPHONIC” emblem reinforces the campaign’s emphasis on the relationship between image and sound. No individual poster artist is identified on the sheet.

Cultural significance

This design presents Fantasia as an experience of music, colour and movement. Its restrained typography and expansive rainbow imagery convey the film’s experimental character, giving it appeal to collectors of Disney animation, classical music and Japanese graphic design.

Condition

Excellent+. The poster retains beautiful colour and clear typography. Please review the photographs—they show the exact poster for sale.

This is an original Japanese theatrical B2 poster from 1972.
It is not a reproduction or a modern reprint.

It is approximately 54 years old.

Certificate of Authenticity included.