For the computer game series, see Tōhō.

() is a large Japanese film studio. It is headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Hankyu-Toho Group. In the West, it is best known as the producer of many daikaiju (monster) movies, the Choseishin tokusatsu superhero TV franchise, the films of Akira Kurosawa, and the animated films of Studio Ghibli.

History

Toho was founded by the Hankyu Railway in 1932 as the . It managed, 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. ^* Toho also had a theater in San Francisco and opened a theater in New York in 1963.

Major productions & distributions

Film

1930s

• Three Sisters with Maiden Hearts (1935)
• Enoken's Ten Millions (1936)
• ''Enoken's Ten Millions Sequel (1936)
• Tokyo Rhapsody (1936)
• 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)
• Monkey Sun (1940)
• Uma (1941)

1950s

• The Seven Samurai (1954)
• Godzilla and sequels (1954)
• Sazae-san (1956)
• Rodan! (1956)
• The Mysterians (1957)
• Varan, the Unvelievable (1958)
• The Hidden Fortress (1958)

1960s

• The Last War (1961)
• Devil Woman (1964)
• Punch Guy (1966)

1970s

• Evil of Dracula (1974)
• Lupin III (1974)
• Demon Spies (1975)
• War in Space (1977)

1980s

• Doraemon and sequels (1980)
• Ano Hi Ni Kaeritai (1988)
• My Neighbor Totoro (1988, with coproduction Ghibli Studios)

1990s

• The Ring (1998)

2000s

• Spirited Away (2001], with coproduction Ghibli Studios)
• Howl's Moving Castle (2004], with coproduction Ghibli Studios)
• Naruto the Movie (2004)
• Final Wars (2004)
• Lolerei (2005)
• Densha Otoko (2005)

Television

Tokusatsu

• Warrior Of Love: Rainbowman (1972)
• Meteor Man Zone (1973)
• Warrior Of Light: Diamond Eye (1973)
• Flying Saucer War Bankid (1976)
• Megaloman (1979)
• Eletronic Brain Police Cybercop (1988)
• Seven Stars Fighting God Guyferd (1996)
• Super Star Gods Gransazer (2003)
• Vision Star God Justiriser (2004)
• Super Star Fleet Sazer X (2005)

Anime

• Touch (1985)

In more recent years, they have produced video games and to a limited extent anime. One of their first video games was the 1990 NES game titled Circus Caper.

Footnotes

• "Toho" Far East Film News December 25, 1963.

External links

• Official homepage (in Japanese)
• Toho Kingdom

Japanese film studios

Toho | Tōhō | Tôhô | Toho | 東宝 | Toho