“THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS” (1987) – ORIGINAL JAPANESE B0 BILLBOARD POSTER – TIMOTHY DALTON’S BOND DEBUT Ultra Rare | 25th Anniversary Bond Release | Massive Landscape Format | c. 103 × 145.6 cm
This is an original first-release Japanese B0 billboard poster for The Living Daylights (007／リビング・デイライツ), the 15th official James Bond film, the 25th-anniversary entry in the series, and the first Bond film to star Timothy Dalton. In Japan, the film opened on 12 December 1987, and this spectacular oversized poster proudly carries the campaign line celebrating the series’ 25th anniversary and latest 15th installment. Dalton’s debut also launched a brief but highly distinctive Bond era: official Bond sources note that he approached the role with the intention of bringing Ian Fleming’s Bond back to the screen, while the BFI describes his 007 here as grittier, leaner and more subdued than Roger Moore’s, with fewer gadgets, fewer throwaway one-liners, and a stronger Cold War edge.
Printed in huge JIS B0 size—approximately 1030 × 1456 mm—this is the largest standard format in the Japanese B series, used for major large-format posters. The sheer scale gives the piece extraordinary presence, and in this dramatic landscape format it has a real billboard impact on the wall. In our experience, this format for The Living Daylights is virtually never seen; this is the first example we have ever encountered, and it is unquestionably one of the rarer Japanese Bond posters we have handled.
The artwork is superb and very much of its moment: a striking photographic montage set over a map background, with Dalton front and centre, surrounded by action vignettes, glamour imagery, and the Aston Martin. It perfectly captures Bond advertising at the end of one era and the beginning of another. Japanese writing on Bond poster history notes that by the late 1980s, photographic collage had become the dominant poster style in Japan and the U.S., making this campaign design an especially interesting example of that transition.
The film itself remains one of the key transitional chapters in Bond history. Directed by John Glen and written by Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson, it co-stars Maryam d’Abo, Jeroen Krabbé, Joe Don Baker, John Rhys-Davies and others. The title comes from Ian Fleming’s short story The Living Daylights, first published in 1962, and the film also features John Barry’s final Bond score together with the title song performed by a-ha. Official Bond material also notes that The Living Daylights restored Aston Martin to the series for Dalton’s debut—an especially nice detail given how prominently the car appears in this Japanese poster.
Condition: condition is very good for the format. As expected for an original billboard poster of this scale and age, it shows edge wear, handling wear along the outer margins, a fold line visible on the verso, age-related toning/staining, and general rippling/creasing. The reverse shows the fold line and age discoloration more clearly, but the front still presents extremely well, with bold imagery and excellent overall display appeal. Once framed, it will display excellently, and it is also a perfect candidate for professional linen backing. We have fully taken the condition into account when pricing.
A truly ultra-rare Japanese James Bond poster: monumental in scale, visually arresting, and from Timothy Dalton’s important first outing as 007.
