New Pamono Return of the Jedi Poster attributed to Noriyoshi Ohrai, Japan, 1983

Designed to promote the final instalment of George Lucas’ original Star Wars trilogy, ‘Return of the Jedi’, this scarce and sought after Japanese commercial poster was produced under licence to the Yamakatsu trading cards company and was sold exclusively in Japanese cinemas during the first release of the film in 1983. The stunning artwork by Japanese illustrator Noriyoshi Ohrai, depicting beloved droids R2-D2 and C-3PO in front of a fiery nebula, flanked by red and green lightsaber beams, is widely regarded as some of the best poster artwork for any Star Wars film. Ohrai had first come to the attention of George Lucas when the director spotted his Star Wars illustrations in a Japanese science fiction magazine, after which he was commissioned to design the Japanese theatrical poster for ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ in 1980 and for the first Japanese dub of ‘Star Wars’ in 1982. Although sold to the public, this premium souvenir poster for ‘Return of the Jedi’ – known among collectors as the ‘Starfall’ poster – was reportedly difficult to obtain even at the time of release and is considerably rarer than the official theatrical release posters for this film.

CONDITION
Light handling shells throughout and tiny unobtrusive vertical creases throughout, only visible from certain angles. Negligible bumps to corners. Slight undulation to paper from being softly tri-folded with a stack of other posters at one time.