Author Topic: Japanese STB 2-panel posters -- A bit of history & some cool vintage photos!  (Read 6437 times)

Offline Harry Caul

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I just wrote up a blog post about this unique poster format that includes some cool historic photos from Japan.

Movie Posters 101 | Japanese STB 2-panel posters

Offline Simes

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I must admit, I don't normally go for the Japanese posters as there always seems to be too much text in too many places.

But these are wonderful.

Offline Tob

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That was a good read, interesting and informative. The posters are obviously terrific too! Thanks for sharing, Matt.

I have a decent amount of Japanese posters, but only one tatekan...for Easy Rider (orange coloured one). I really like the format though, I need to pull my finger out and buy more!


Offline crowzilla

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Great article Matt,
thanks for posting it and making more aware of this great format.
The Online Reference to Japanese Sci-Fi Posters:
www.Kaijuposters.com

Offline Hicks77

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Great article and pix Matt, thank you  thumbsup.gif  I just picked up my first STB the other day!

Offline eric160634

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Interesting post. Do you know if they made a Jaws poster in that size? It sounds like they were discontinued the year it came out.

Offline Harry Caul

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Thanks for the kind words everyone!


Interesting post. Do you know if they made a Jaws poster in that size? It sounds like they were discontinued the year it came out.

No Jaws STB that I know of. To complicate matters, many lower budget movies released during the timeframe they were in use did NOT get one. I’ve been hoping a Texas Chainsaw Massacre STB would surface for the better part of a decade — but nada. I’ve been told they don’t exist.

Then again, I had at least 3 seasoned Japanese collectors tell me they didn’t think Tokyo Drifter had an STB printed as they had never encountered one, never seen an image of one, nor even heard talk of one.

Until one finally surfaced... which I bought of course!  8)

Offline CSM

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Not my thing but still a very interesting article Matt!  Always nice to see posters displayed as they were intended
Chris

Offline okiehawker

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Thanks for the blog, Harry Caul!  In Japan, was there a timeframe when the local distributors as opposed to the studios largely chose the images and design for the STB posters? Thanks, Okie

Offline Posteroid

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Well done!

But one correction: Japanese studios continued using tatekan posters at least until the end of 1976.
The latest one I have come accross is for Toei's SHOGUN'S SADISM, which was released in September 1976.

Armin

Offline Harry Caul

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Well done!

But one correction: Japanese studios continued using tatekan posters at least until the end of 1976.
The latest one I have come accross is for Toei's SHOGUN'S SADISM, which was released in September 1976.

Armin

Thanks Armin!  I tried to qualify my claims by stating:

Quote
The last of the big studios quit the format by 1975, but there were a few stragglers released from smaller studios into the late 1970s. There were also some special release posters that tried to play into the nostalgia of the format — notably Akira Kurosawa’s Kagemusha STB from 1980.

The last of the STBs I found on eMovieposter were from 1979, but those were mostly lower budge (B-exploitation?) Japanese films.  From what I understand, most of the big studios and definitely the big international films were finished with the format by or before 1975.  Hence the reason there is no Jaws STB. 

Offline Posteroid

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There were the odd tatekan posters after 1976, but to my knowledge 1976 was the last year with considerably wide releases for Japanese productions. The last tatekan I have ever seen for a non-Japanese wide release was for SOYLENT GREEN (opened in June 1973 in Japan).
Particularly Nikkatsu studio continued printing a very limited number (judging by their rarety) of tatekans for some of their sex films into the 1980s but I assume they were only hung inside cinemas or at special locations. Same goes for Toho's KAGEMUSHA.

Armin

Offline Harry Caul

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There were the odd tatekan posters after 1976, but to my knowledge 1976 was the last year with considerably wide releases for Japanese productions. The last tatekan I have ever seen for a non-Japanese wide release was for SOYLENT GREEN (opened in June 1973 in Japan).
Particularly Nikkatsu studio continued printing a very limited number (judging by their rarety) of tatekans for some of their sex films into the 1980s but I assume they were only hung inside cinemas or at special locations. Same goes for Toho's KAGEMUSHA.

Armin

I added this info to the post... Thanks Armin! 

Offline supraman079

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Great article. The Tatekan is my favorite format for Japanese posters which is why I have 7 of them currently hanging in my house along with several more in storage.

Offline Posteroid

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A quick update on this topic as I recently visited Japan again and was able to find out more after talking to some collectors there.
Until it was banned, the tatekan format was used for all kinds of advertising along the streets. Local businesses used it to promote their goods and services. Movie posters were only a fraction of that. This format created problems as there was too much advertising and the government intervened and had all displays of this size removed.

Some independent cinema owners however asked the distributors to continue supplying them with tatekan posters which they wanted to display inside (and possibly right in front of) their cinemas. These independent cinemas were financially important for the studios, so they complied for selected titles. Quite a few post-1973 tatekan posters I have come across were for adult movies. So possibly the distribution structure for these films in particular was heavily reliant on independent local cinemas.

Armin