Toho

The English-language version of Toho's famous logo, used from the early 1960s to the late 1990s, presented in a 2:35.1 letterboxed image.

Toho Company Ltd. (東宝株式会社, Tōhō Kabushiki-kaisha^?, TYO: 9602) is a Japanese film and theatre production/distribution company. It is headquartered in Yūrakuchō, Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. In the West, it is best known as the producer 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 and worldwide creation is Godzilla, known as the King of the Monsters. It has also been involved in the production of numerous anime titles. 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. The company also Distributed the Gamera trilogy. They have also handled the Japanese releases of the Pokémon anime movies. Its subdivisions are Toho Pictures Incorporated, Toho International Company Limited, Toho E. B. Company Limited, Toho Music Corporation & Toho Costume Comapay Limited. The company is the largest shareholder (7.96%) of Fuji Media Holdings, Inc.

History

The classic TohoScope logo, used for Toho's 2.40:1 widescreen movies from 1957 to 1964 and in 2004's Godzilla Final Wars.

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, 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 was named New Touhou because it broke off from the original Touhou Company. The company has contributed to the production of some American films, including Sam Raimi's A Simple Plan.

Major productions & distributions

Film

Toho Educational Film Company's Logo from 1933-1950, presented in a windowboxed 1.33:1 frame.

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

• Song of Kunya (1940)
• Enoken Has His Hair Cropped (1940)
• Songoku: Monkey Sun (1940)
• Uma (1941)
• The War at sea from Hawaii to Malay (1942)
• Sanshiro Sugata (1943)
• Drunken Angel (1948)
• Stray Dog (1949)

1950s

• Ikiru (1952)
• Seven Samurai (1954)
• Godzilla (1954)
• Toumei ningen (1954)
• Sound of the Mountain (1954)
• Godzilla Raids Again (1955)
• Half-Human (1955)
• Vampire Moth (1956)
• Sazae-san (1956)
• Rodan (1956)
• The Mysterians (1957)
• Throne of Blood (1957)
• Ikiteiru koheiji (1957)
• Varan (1958)
• The Hidden Fortress (1958)
• Shirasagi (1958)
• Battle in Outer Space (1959)
• The Birth of Japan (1959)

1960s

• Hawai Middouei daikaikusen: Taiheiyo no arashi (Hawaii-Midway Battle of the Sea and Sky: Storm in the Pacific Ocean) (1960)
• I Bombed Pearl Harbor (1961)
• Mothra (1961)
• Yojimbo (1961)
• Sanjuro (1962)
• King Kong vs Godzilla (1962)
• Gorath (1962)
• Atragon (1963)
• Matango (1963)
• Mothra vs Godzilla (1964)
• Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)
• Dogora (1964)
• Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965)
• Frankenstein Conquers the World (1965)
• Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster (1966)
• War of the Gargantuas (1966)
• Son of Godzilla (1967)
• King Kong Escapes (1967)
• Destroy All Monsters (1968)
• All Monsters Attack (1969)
• Latitude Zero (1969)

1970s

• Space Amoeba (1970)
• Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)
• Young Guy vs. Blue Guy (1971)
• Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972)
• Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)
• Japan Sinks (1973)
• Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)
• Prophecies of Nostradamus (1974)
• Evil of Dracula (1974)
• Lupin III (1974)
• Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)
• Demon Spies (1975)
• The War in Space (1977)
• Zero Fighter (1976)

1980s

• Belle and Sebastian
• Doraemon and sequels (1980)
• Kagemusha (1980)
• The Wizard of Oz (1982)
• The Return of Godzilla (1984)
• Ran (1985)
• Kimagure Orange Road: Ano Hi Ni Kaeritai (1988)
• My Neighbor Totoro (1988, coproduction with Studio Ghibli)
• Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)

1990s

• Devil Hunter Yohko (1990)
• Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)
• Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992)
• Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993)
• Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994)
• Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)
• Gakkō no Kaidan (1995)
• Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (1995)
• Gakkō no Kaidan 2 (1996)
• Gamera 2: Attack of Legion (1996)
• Rebirth of Mothra (1996)
• Gakkō no Kaidan 3 (1997)
• Rebirth of Mothra II (1997)
• Rebirth of Mothra III (1998)
• Ring (film) (1998)
• Pocket Monsters The Counterattack of Mewtwo (1998)
• Gakkō no Kaidan 4 (1999)
• Gamera 3: Awakening of Irys (1999)
• Godzilla 2000: Millennium (1999)
• Pocket Monsters the Phantom Pokemon, Explosive Birth of Lugia (1999)

2000s

• Pocket Monsters The Lord of the Crystal Tower Entei (2000)
• Metropolis
• Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000)
• 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)
• I Survived a Japanese Gameshow (2008)
• Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl the Movie: Arceus: To the Conquering of Space-Time (2009)
• Godzilla 3D to the MAX (TBA)

Television

Tokusatsu

• Ike! Godman (1972)
• Warrior Of Love: Rainbowman (1972)
• Meteor Man Zone (1973)
• Ike! Greenman (1973)
• Warrior Of Light: Diamond Eye (1973)
• Flying Saucer War Bankid (1976)
• Megaloman (1979)
• Electronic Brain Police Cybercop (1989)
• Seven Stars Fighting God Guyferd (1996)
• Godzilla Island (1997)
• Chouseishin Gransazer (2003)
• Genseishin Justirisers (2004)
• Chousei Kantai Sazer-X (2005)
• Kawaii! Jenny (2007)

TV Anime

• Belle & Sebastian (1981)
• Touch (1985)
• Godzilla (1998) (co-production)
• Midori Days (co-production) (2004)

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.

See also

• Big in Japan (format)
• TohoScope

References

External links

• Official homepage (in Japanese)
• Toho Kingdom