The Cleavage: Toei Company

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Tōei Company, Limited (東映株式会社)

Type	Public corporation
Founded	October 1, 1950 as Tōkyō Film Distribution
Headquarters	Chūō-ku Ginza 3-chōme 2-ban 17-kou, 104-8108 Tokyo, JPN
Area served	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)
Employees	311 (as of March 31, 2006)
Subsidiaries	Tōei Language Tech Center Tōei Animation Tōei Television Production Tōei Video Tōei Satellite Broadcasting Tōei Agency
Website	(日本語) Tōei.co.jp

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).

[edit] History

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).