Toei Company

Infobox Company
name = Tōei Company, Limited (東映株式会社)
company_
type = Public corporation
foundation = October 1 1950
as Tōkyō Film Distribution
location_city = Chūō-ku Ginza 3-chōme 2-ban 17-kou, 104-8108 Tokyo
location_country = JPN
location =
locations =
key_people =
area_served = flagcountry|Japan
industry = Film and Television
products = Motion pictures, publicity materials
services = Film and TV distribution and marketing
revenue = ¥ 66,300,000,000
(as of March 2006)
operating_income =
net_income =
num_employees = 311
(as of March 31 2006)
parent =
divisions =
subsid = Tōei Language Tech Center
Tōei Animation
Tōei Television Production
Tōei Video
Tōei Satellite Broadcasting
Tōei Agency
slogan =
homepage = (日本語) [http://www.toei.co.jp/ Tōei.co.jp]
dissolved =
footnotes =
intl = Nihongo|Tōei Company, Limited|東映株式会社|Tōei Kabushiki-gaisha( tyo|9605) is a Japanese film and television production and distribution corporation. Based in Tokyo, Tōei owns and operates thirty-four (34) cinema houses across Japan, a modest vertically-integrated studio system by the standards of the 1930s United States; operates studios at Tōkyō and Kyōto; and is a stockholder in several television companies. It is notable for Anime, live action dramas using special visual effects known as Tokusatsu, and historical dramas (Jidaigeki).

Tōei was a pioneer in the use of character transformation in live-action martial-arts dramas, a technique developed for the "Kamen Rider", "Devilman" and "Super Sentai" series; the genre currently continues with "Kamen Rider" and "Super Sentai".

The name "Tōei" is derived from "Tōkyō Eiga Haikyū" (Tōkyō Film Distribution Company, the company's former name).

History

Nihongo|Tōkyō-Yokohama Films|東横映画|Tō-Yoko Eiga, incorporated 1938, had previously erected its facilities immediately east of the Tōkyū Tōkyō-Yokohama Line; they managed the Tōkyū Shibuya Yokohama studio system prior to V-J Day. From 1945 through the Tōei merger, Tōkyō-Yokohama Films leased from the Daiei Motion Picture Company a second studio in Kyoto. Through the merger, they gained the combined talents and experience of actors Chiezō Kataoka, Utaemon Ichikawa, Rionosuke Tsukigata, Ryutaro Otomo, Kinnosuke Nakamura, Chiyonosuke Azuma, Shirunosuke Toshin, Hashizo Okawa and Satomi Oka.

On October 1 1950, the Tōkyō Film Distribution Company was incorporated; in 1951 the company purchased Ōizumi Films .

In 1956, Tōei established an animation division, Tōei Animation Company, Ltd. at the former Tōkyō-Ōizumi animation studio, purchasing the assets of Japan Animated Films (originally founded in 1948).

ee also

*Kadokawa Pictures
*Toei Animation
*Toei Superheroes
*Super transformation, an extension of Hero transformation

External links

* [http://www.toei.co.jp/ Toei webpage]
* [http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/international/feature_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002275129/ Toasting Toei] - a "Hollywood Reporter" article detailing Toei's receiving MIPTV's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006