Toho
Toho Co., Ltd. (東宝株式会社, Tōhō Kabushiki-kaisha?, TYO: 9602) is a Japanese film, theater production, and distribution company. It is headquartered in Yūrakuchō, Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. Outside Japan, it is best known as the producer and distributor of many kaiju (monster) and tokusatsu (special effects) movies, the Chouseishin tokusatsu superhero TV franchise, the films of Akira Kurosawa, and the anime films of Studio Ghibli. Its most famous worldwide creation is Godzilla, known as the "King of all Monsters", featured in 28 films. Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah, Mechagodzilla, and Rodan are described as being Toho's "Big Five" due to the monsters' numerous appearances in all three eras of the franchise, as well as spin-offs. Toho has also been involved in the production of numerous anime titles. Its subdivisions are Toho Pictures Incorporated, Toho International Company Limited, Toho E. B. Company Limited, Toho Music Corporation & Toho Costume Company Limited. The company is the largest shareholder (7.96%) of Fuji Media Holdings Inc.
History
Toho was founded by the Hankyu Railway in 1932 as the Tokyo-Takarazuka Theater Company (東京宝塚劇場株式会社, Tōkyō Takarazuka Gekijō Kabushiki-kaisha?). It managed much of the kabuki in Tokyo and, among other properties, the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater and the Imperial Garden Theater in Tokyo; Toho and Shochiku enjoyed a duopoly over theaters in Tokyo for many years.
After several successful film exports to the United States during the 1950s through Henry G. Saperstein, Toho opened the La Brea Theatre in Los Angeles to show its own films without selling to a distributor. It was known as the Toho Theatre from the late 1960s until the 1970s.[1] Toho also had a theater in San Francisco and opened a theater in New York in 1963.[2]
The Shintoho Company, which existed until 1964, was named New Toho because it broke off from the original Toho Company.
The company has contributed to the production of some American films, including Sam Raimi's A Simple Plan.
Major productions and distributions
Film
1930s
- Three Sisters with Maiden Hearts (1935)
- Enoken's Ten Millions (1936)
- Enoken's Ten Millions Sequel (1936)
- Tokyo Rhapsody (1936)
- Humanity and paper ballons (1937)
- A Husband Chastity (1937)
- Tojuro's Love (1938)
- Enoken's Shrewd Period (1939)
- Chushingura I (1939)
- Chushingura II (1939)
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
- Pocket Monsters: Lord of the Unknown Tower - Entei (2000)
- Metropolis
- Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000)
- Merdeka 17805 (2001), coproduction with Rapi Films from Indonesia)
- Spirited Away (2001), coproduction with Studio Ghibli)
- Inuyasha movies (2001–2004), co-productions with Sunrise
- Hamtaro Movie 1: Adventures in Ham-Ham Land (2001) (distributor)
- Pocket Monsters Celebi, the Meeting that Transversed Time (2001)
- Hamtaro Movie 2: Princess of Vision (2002) (distributor)
- Beyblade Bakuten Shoot Beyblade The Movie: Gekitou!! Takao vs. Daichi (2002) (Producer)
- Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001)
- Pocket Monsters The Guardian of the Water Capital Latias and Latios (2002)
- Hamtaro Movie 3: Ham-Ham Grand Prix (2003) (distributor)
- Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002)
- Godzilla, Mothra, Mechagodzilla: Tokyo S.O.S (2003)
- Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation The Wishing Star of the Seven Nights Jirachi (2003)
- Howl's Moving Castle (2004), coproduction with Studio Ghibli)
- Naruto the Movie (2004)
- Godzilla: Final Wars (2004)
- Steamboy (2004)
- Hamtaro Movie 4: Hamtaro and the Mysterious Ogre's Picture Book Tower (2004) (distributor)
- Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation The Visitor from a Fissure in the Sky Deoxys (2004)
- Lolerei (2005)
- Always san-chome no yuhi (2005)
- Naruto the movie 2 (2005)
- Densha Otoko (2005)
- NANA (2005)
- Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation Mew and the Wave-Guiding Hero Lucario (2005)
- Bleach: Memories of Nobody (2006)
- Dōbutsu no Mori (2006), co-production with O.L.M., Nintendo, and Shogakukan
- Nada Sousou (2006)
- NANA2 (2006)
- Nihon Chinbotsu (Japan Sinks) (2006)
- Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation Pokémon Ranger and the Prince of the Sea Manaphy (2006)
- Rough (2006)
- Touch Movie (2006)
- Always zoku san-chome no yuhi (2007)
- Eiga De Tojo-Tamagotchi: Dokidoki! Uchuu no Maigotchi!? (2007)
- HERO (2007)
- Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl Dialga VS Palkia VS Darkrai (2007)
- Pocket Monsters Diamond and Pearl Giratina and the Bouquet of the Sky: Shaymin (2008)
- Hana Yori Dango FINAL (2008)
- Ponyo on the Cliff (2008)
- I Survived a Japanese Game Show (2008)
- Mystery of the Third Planet (2008)
- Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl the Movie: Arceus: To the Conquering of Space-Time (2009)
- Boku no Hatsukoi wo Kimi ni Sasagu (2009)
- Uchū Senkan Yamato: Fukkatsu hen (2009)
- Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva (2009)
2010s
Television
Tokusatsu
TV anime
In more recent years and for a period, they have produced video games. One of their first video games was the 1990 NES game titled Circus Caper. Later, they followed with a series of games based on Godzilla and a 1992 game called Serizawa Nobuo no Birdy Try. It also published games such as Super Aleste. They even worked with Bandai on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, released in Japan in 1988 and in North America in 1989.
Headquarters
Toho's headquarters, the Toho Hibiya Building (東宝日比谷ビル, Tōhō Hibiya Biru?), are in Yūrakuchō, Chiyoda, Tokyo. The company moved into its current headquarters in April 2005.[3]
See also
|
Tokyo portal |
|
Companies portal |
References
- ^ [1]
- ^ "Toho" Far East Film News December 25, 1963.
- ^ "会社の沿革." Toho. Retrieved on February 26, 2010. "2005年4月 東宝本社を東宝日比谷ビル(東京都千代田区有楽町一丁目2-2)に移転。"
External links