Toho

The English-language version of Toho's logo, used from the early 1960s to 1991, presented in a 2:35.1 letterboxed image.

Toho Co., Ltd. (東宝株式会社, Tōhō Kabushiki-kaisha) 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 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. 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

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 through Henry G. Saperstein, Toho took over 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.

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

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)
• The H-Man (1958)
• Battle in Outer Space (1959)
• The Birth of Japan (1959)

1960s

• The Secret of the Telegian
• The Human Vapor
• Hawai Middouei daikaikusen: Taiheiyo no arashi (Hawaii-Midway Battle of the Sea and Sky: Storm in the Pacific Ocean) also as Storm Over the Pacific (1960)
• I Bombed Pearl Harbor (1961)
• Mothra (1961)
• Yojimbo (1961)
• The Last War (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)
• Kokusai himitsu keisatsu: Kayaku no taru (1964)
• Kokusai himitsu keisatsu: Kagi no kagi (1965) (this and the above film spliced together to form What's Up Tiger Lily)
• Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965)
• Frankenstein Conquers the World (1965)
• We Will Remember (1965-66)
• 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)
• The Vampire Doll (1970)
• Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)
• The Battle of Okinawa (1971)
• Daigoro vs. Goliath (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)
• Zero Fighter (1976)
• House (1977)
• The War in Space (1977)

1980s

• Belle and Sebastian
• Doraemon: The Motion Picture and sequels (1980)
• Kagemusha (1980)
• The Wizard of Oz (1982)
• Macross: Do You Remember Love? (1984)
• The Return of Godzilla (1984)
• Ran (1985)
• Prussian blue Portrait(1986)
• Grave of the Fireflies (1988, coproduction with Studio Ghibli)
• Kimagure Orange Road: Ano Hi Ni Kaeritai (1988)
• My Neighbor Totoro (1988, coproduction with Studio Ghibli)
• Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)
• Sweet Home (1989)

1990s

• Devil Hunter Yohko (1990)
• Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)
• Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth (1992)
• Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993)
• Sailor Moon R: The Movie (1993)
• Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994)
• Sailor Moon S: The Movie (1994)
• Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)
• Gakkō no Kaidan (1995)
• Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (1995)
• Sailor Moon Super S: The Movie (1995)
• Godzilla vs. Godzilla (1995, but cancelled)
• 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 (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 Pokémon, Explosive Birth of Lugia (1999)

2000s

• Pocket Monsters The Lord of the Crystal 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

• Winx Club 3D: Magical Adventure (2010)
• Space Battleship Yamato (2010)
• Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl the Movie: Phantom Ruler: Zoroark (2010)
• Pocket Monsters Best Wishes! The Movie: Victini and the White Hero: Reshiram (2011)
• Pocket Monsters Best Wishes! The Movie: Victini and the Black Hero: Zekrom (2011)
• Gyakuten Saiban (2012)

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 (1988)
• 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)
• Winx Club (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. 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.

See also

• TohoScope
• Tomisaburo Wakayama

External links

• Official homepage (in Japanese)
• Toho Kingdom