Kadokawa

The Kadokawa Corporation (角川株式会社,   Kadokawa Kabushiki-Gaisha) is a Japanese media conglomerate and 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.

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 theaters, including the re-release of King Kong. Daiei became well-known for producing the popular Zatoichi films, some of legendary director Akira Kurosawa's early pictures, and in the 1960's 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 the late 1960's Daiei began to experience financial problems, so in June of 1970 Daiei and Nikkatsu Corporation, which was also facing financial problems, merged to share distribution costs and formed Dainichi Film Distribution Co., Ltd (ＤＮ ダイニチ映配株式会社,   Dainichi Eihai Kabushikigaisha). This partnership would last until August of 1971, when Nikkatsu withdrew from this deal. On November 29, 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 in 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

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, Kadokawa screened a four minute-long short at New York Comic-Con to commemorate Gamera's 50th anniversary. The short may have been intended as a proof-of-concept for a potential new entry in the franchise, but as of 2017 no new film has come of it.

Tokusatsu Productions

Pre-1960's

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

1960's

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

1970's

• Gamera vs. Jiger (1970)
• Gamera vs. Zigra (1971)

1980's

• Gamera: Super Monster (1980)

1990's

• Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (1995)
• Gamera 2: Attack of Legion (1996)
• Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris (1999)

2000's

• The Great Yokai War (2005)
• Gamera the Brave (2006)

2010's

• GAMERA (2015) [short]

Cancelled Films

• Giant Horde Beast Nezura
• Gamera The Giant Monster vs. The Ice Men From Outer Space
• Gamera vs. Two-Headed Monster W
• Gamera vs. Garasharp
• Sinking of Japan (1972 Daiei production)
• Gamera vs. Phoenix
• Godzilla vs. Gamera
• Daimajin (2008, Takashi Miike)

Television

• Seishi Yokomizo Series (1977-1978) [co-created with Toho and Mifune Productions]
• Daimajin Kanon (2010)

Publishing

Kadokawa originated as a publishing company known as Kadokawa Shoten (角川書店) that was founded in 1945, and to this day remains active as the publishing branch of the Kadokawa Corporation. Kadokawa has published numerous kaiju and tokusatsu-related books, including books covering both the Gamera and Godzilla franchises. These include:

• Daiei Tokusatsu Movie Chronicle (2010)
• GODZILLA: Monster Apocalypse (2017)

Gallery

• 

  Daiei logo

• 

  Dainichi Eihai Co., Ltd. logo

External Links

• Kadokawa Pictures website
• Kadokawa Corporation website
• Offcial Twitter page
• "The History of Daiei" by Greg Shoemaker (1979)