Japanese Studios Layla & Gena

Daiei > Daiei was originally formed as a subsidiary of Shochiku in the mid-1930s but came into its own as part of the Japanese wartime ‘consolidation’ of the industry into three companies. After the war, in which Daiei had been a compliant provider of propaganda pictures, the studio faced several problems – no theatre chain or ‘acceptable’ back catalogue and a general restriction on jedaigeki  imposed by the Occupation authorities which hit Daiei’s Kyoto studio hard. > Daiei film was a Japanese movie studio. Founded in 1942 was Dai Nippon it was one of the major studios during the post war golden age of Japanese cinema, producing not only artistic masterpieces such as Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon and Kenji Mizoguchi’s Ugesta, but also such popular film series as Gamera and Zatoichi. It declared bankruptcy in 1971 and was acquired by Kadokawa pictures.

Nikkatsu The company made a few samurai films and historical dramas but by 1960 had decided to devote its resources to he production of urban youth dramas, comedy, action and gangster films. From late 1950’s to 1971 they were renowned for their big budget action movies designed for the youth market. They employed such stars as Yujiro Ishihara, Akira Kobayashi, Joe Shishido, Tetsuya Watari, Ruriko Asaoka, Chieko Matsubara and, later Meiko Kaji and Tatsuya Fuji. Director Shohei Imamura began his career there and between 1958 and 1966 made for them such notable films.

Toho > Toho was founded by the Hankya Railway in 1932 as the Tokyo-Takarazuka Theater Company. It managed much of the Kabuki in Tokyo and, among other properties, the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater and the Imperial Garden Theater in Tokyo; Toho and Shochiku enjoyed a duopoly over theatres in Tokyo for many years. Toho had a long (and often difficult) relationship with Kurosawa Akira over many years from the 1940s-60s. When Godzilla was first released in 1954 the film sold approximately 9,610,000 tickets and was the eighth best-attended film in Japan that year.[27] It remains the second most-attended "Godzilla" film in Japan, behind King Kong vs Godzilla its box office earnings were 152 Millions Yen ($2.25 million). > Ultimately Japanese studios had a hard time when TV came in. People were rushing to buy to TV set rather than rushing to the cinemas.

Shintoho > Shintoho began as a Toho subsidiary in the late 1940s and then sought to develop an independence that in the 1950s saw it successful with war pictures and action adventures for ‘ultra-conservative’ audiences. Its independence ended in 1961 when the studio went bankrupt and the assets reverted to Toho.  The company began making films in 1921 and was the first film studio to abandon the use of female impersonators and sought to model itself and its films after Hollywood standards, bringing such things as the  star system and the sound stage to Japan.