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The Kadokawa Corporation (角川株式会社,   Kadokawa Kabushiki-Gaisha?) is a Japanese media conglomerate and a subsidiary of Kadokawa Dwango Corporation. Kadokawa currently owns all of the assets of Daiei Motion Picture Company Ltd. (大映映画株式會社,   Daiei Eiga Kabushiki-Gaisha?), which now operates as the corporation's film-making branch, Kadokawa Daiei Studio (株式会社角川大映スタジオ,   Kabushiki-Gaisha Kadokawa Daiei Sutajio?).

History[]

Daiei Motion Picture Company, Ltd.[]

Daiei logo

Founded in 1942 as Dai Nippon Film Co., Ltd., Daiei went on to become one of the largest and most successful Japanese film studios in the postwar era. Daiei frequently distributed foreign pictures in Japanese theatres, including the re-release of King Kong. Daiei became well-known for producing the popular Zatoichi films, some of the legendary director Akira Kurosawa's early pictures, and in the 1960s began producing kaiju films. Daiei's first kaiju film was Gamera in 1965, which capitalized on the success of Toho's popular Godzilla films. Gamera was successful, and Daiei went on to produce many sequels over the next several decades. The next year, Daiei produced the Daimajin trilogy. In 1971, Daiei filed for bankruptcy, and in 1974 was purchased by Tokuma Shoten. Under Tokuma's ownership, Daiei attempted to produce a new Gamera film, Gamera: Super Monster, in order to revive the series. The film was produced on a slim budget and relied mainly on stock footage from previous entries in the series, and also included obvious attempts to cash in on the Superman and Star Wars films that were popular at the time. The film was a commercial and critical failure, and Daiei did not produce another Gamera film for over a decade.

In 1995, Daiei hired director Shusuke Kaneko to direct a reboot to the Gamera series. Distributed by Toho, Gamera: Guardian of the Universe was a huge success with critics and at the box office. Daiei produced two sequels to the film, Gamera 2: Attack of Legion and Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris, both of which were critically acclaimed.

In 2002, Daiei was purchased from Tokuma Shoten by Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co., a subsidiary of the Kadokawa Corporation. Daiei was merged with the corporation's film studio, Kadokawa Pictures, to form Kadokawa-Daiei Film Company, Ltd.

Kadokawa Pictures[]

The Kadokawa Pictures Logo

Kadokawa Pictures (角川映画,   Kadokawa Eiga?) was founded in 1975 as the film division of Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co. Between 1976 and 1993, it produced close to 60 films. In 2002, it was merged with the acquired Daiei Motion Picture Company, Ltd. to become Kadokawa-Daiei Film Company, Ltd. The merged studio produced the twelfth Gamera film, Gamera: The Brave, in 2006 to celebrate the franchise's 40th anniversary. Over the next decade, the company went through various restructurings and name changes, and in 2013 became Kadokawa Daiei Studio Company, Ltd.

In 2015, it was announced that Kadokawa planned to produce a new Gamera film for the series' 50th anniversary, and in October of that year, they revealed test footage for the film at New York Comic-Con.

Productions[]

Pre-1960's[]

  • Invisible Man Appears (1949)
  • Warning from Space (1956)
  • Invisible Man vs. Human Fly (1957)
  • kijo keizu(1959)

1960s[]

  • The Demon of Mount Oe (1960)
  • Buddha (1961)
  • Kujira Gami (1962)
  • Wind Velocity 75 Meters (1963)
  • Gamera (1965)
  • Gamera vs. Barugon (1966)
  • Daimajin (1966)
  • Return of Daimajin (1966)
  • Wrath of Daimajin (1966)
  • Gamera vs. Gyaos (1967)
  • The Snow Woman (1968)
  • One Hundred Monsters (1968)
  • Spook Warfare (1968)
  • Gamera vs. Viras (1968)
  • Along With Ghosts (1969)
  • Gamera vs. Guiron (1969)

1970s[]

1980s[]

1990s[]

2000s[]

2020s[]

Cancelled Films[]

Television[]

  • Seishi Yokomizo Series (co-created with Toho and Mifune Productions)
  • Daimajin Kanon

Gallery[]

External Links[]

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