Japanese cinema has its own unique style, and there are some excellent works in it. I don't know if you have noticed, which companies are making these movies?
Today, I would like to talk to you about the five major film production companies that are the mainstay of the development wave of the Japanese film industry.
●Shochiku Movie●
Founded in 1920 by entrepreneur Takejiro Otani in Kamata, Tokyo, Shochiku Eijiro celebrated its 100th birthday last year. Shochiku's opening animation is set in Mt. Fuji, which was produced in CG in 2000 and replaced by a real-life image of Mt. Fuji in 2015, when it was celebrated in 2015.
Shochiku is more inclined to shoot comedy films with themes of civic life, such as the famous feature-length film series The Story of Injiro. In addition, the famous films filmed include "Late Spring", "Twenty-Four Eyes", "The Call of the Distant Mountains", "The Yellow Handkerchief of Happiness" and so on.
The 48-part "The Story of Injiro", which lasted nearly thirty years (1969-1995), is currently the longest film series in the world.
The century-old Shochiku film has contributed to the development of black-and-white films to color films.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > ● Koho Co., Ltd. ●</h1>
Everyone is very familiar with this picture, right? That's right, the next thing to introduce is the current boss of the Japanese film production industry , Toho Corporation.
Toho, which means "Tokyo Takarazuka", was formed in 1943 by the merger of the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater Company and the Toho Film Company. Unlike other Japanese film production companies, Toho started out as a theater and later into the film industry.
Moreover, in terms of film production, unified leadership in various fields of production, distribution and screening has been strengthened, and the organizational forms and modern management methods of American film enterprises have been absorbed. Therefore, Toho has a strong choreographer, director, and acting lineup, and its abundant financial resources have produced many difficult works that make full use of stunts.
▲Toho's famous IP "Godzilla"
Toho has also released a series of classic animation works, such as: "Spirited Away", "Hal's Moving Castle", "Goldfish On the Cliff", "Detective Conan", etc., which may be everyone's childhood memories.
In 2016, Toho produced "Your Name." After being introduced to China, it attracted widespread attention, and its unconventional plot and the aesthetic scenes depicted by director Makoto Shinkai also became a sample of everyone's photo tuning filter. It is also "Your Name." After the success of "", more Japanese animation films entered Chinese cinemas.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >● Igei Co., Ltd. ●</h1>
In addition to Toho, another more impressive one should be today's opening. The waves crashed on the reef, and then quickly enlarged the word "Toei" in front of them, not to mention how impactful.
Tokyo Pictures Co., Ltd., abbreviated as Toei Co., Ltd. and Toei, was founded in 1949 and is one of the five major japanese film companies. In addition to film production and distribution, Toei also operates cinema, cinema, satellite TV, and film rental related businesses.
Speaking of Toei, it is necessary to mention its achievements in animated films: in the early years of animation, Toei Co., Ltd. also formed a gathering place for excellent talents, especially in Japanese animation, which had a positive impact on the early development of Japanese animation and became a monopoly position in the industry. A good training mechanism coupled with excellent working conditions makes it the preferred employment target for anime fans.
▲In 1958, Toei produced Japan's first large-scale color animation "The Legend of the White Snake"
The animation works in the picture below are also from Toei's hand, are you familiar with them?
In terms of live-action films, in the 1960s, Toei gathered a group of actors who are still very influential, such as Koji Tsuruta, Tetsuro Tanba, Ken Takakura, etc., and made many influential works. In particular, Ken Takakura's "Abashiri Special Place" and "Showa's Legend of the Cruel Man" are so classic that they not only attracted a large audience, but also created a unique "Toei style".
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > ● Nikkatsu Co., Ltd. ●</h1>
Nichiho Corporation, or Nichiho for short, was developed from the Nippon Event Photo Co., Ltd., founded in 1912, and is one of the five largest film companies in Japan.
Shintaro Ishihara's novel Season of the Sun was remade into a film by Nikko director Takumi Furukawa, which grossed 200 million yen at the box office.
The biggest feature of Nihilo movies is to "borrow" some "scenes" from Hollywood, French, Italian movies, etc., and repackage these "scenes" on the Japanese stage with Japan as the background and become a new Japanese film. In the 1960s, most of the audience's impression of the American West came from Japanese films.
However, after the 1970s, the daily life economy was in trouble, affecting the normal production of films, so it was changed to specialize in low-cost pornographic films, and a generation of legendary film production companies fell.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > ● Kadokawa Movie Co., Ltd. ●</h1>
Kadokawa Pictures Co., Ltd., formerly known as Daiei Co., Ltd., was bought by Kadokawa and merged with Kadokawa's film institutions, and on March 1, 2007, it was renamed the current Kadokawa Pictures.
Speaking of Kadokawa, it is necessary to mention the achievements it has built in the publishing world. It is precisely for this reason that when Kadokawa acquired Daiei Co., Ltd. to break into the film industry, he used his own light novels to adapt and shoot, and promoted the wave of adaptations of light novel IP in Japan.
Film works such as "The Devil Blows the Flute", "The Revived Golden Wolf", "Urata March", "Heaven and Earth", and "Human Disqualification" are all produced by Kadokawa Pictures.
Have you heard of these film companies? Which Japanese movies impressed you? Welcome to leave a message to discuss~