Daiei Film

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**Daiei Film Co. Ltd.** (Kyūjitai: 大映映画株式會社 Shinjitai: 大映映画株式会社 *Daiei eiga kabushiki gaisha*) was a Japanese film studio. Founded in 1942 as **Dai Nippon Film Co., Ltd.**, it was one of the major studios during the postwar Golden Age of Japanese cinema, producing not only artistic masterpieces, such as Akira Kurosawa's *Rashomon* (1950) and Kenji Mizoguchi's *Ugetsu* (1953), but also launching several film series, such as *Gamera*, *Zatoichi* and *Yokai Monsters*, and making the three *Daimajin* films (1966). It declared bankruptcy in 1971 and was acquired by Kadokawa Pictures.

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

### Origins

Daiei Film was the product of government efforts to reorganize the film industry during World War II in order to rationalize use of resources and increase control over the medium. Against a government plan to combine all the film studios into two companies, Masaichi Nagata, an executive at Shinkō Kinema, pressed hard for an alternative plan to create three studios. His efforts won out and Shinkō Kinema, Daito Eiga, and the production arm of Nikkatsu (the Nikkatsu theaters did not take part in the merger) were merged in 1942 to form the *Dai Nippon Eiga Seisaku Kabushiki Kaisha*, or Daiei for short. The novelist Kan Kikuchi served as the first president, with Nagata continuing as an executive. Daiei's studios were located in Chofu, Tokyo and in Uzumasa in Kyoto.

### Golden era

*Gate of Hell* theatrical release poster
Nagata became president in 1947 and, apart from a brief period when he was purged by Occupation authorities, remained in that position until 1971. Under his reign, Daiei produced Akira Kurosawa's *Rashomon* (1950) and entered it in the Venice Film Festival, where it won the grand prize and became the first Japanese film to win an international award, thus introducing Japanese cinema to the world. Daiei also produced Teinosuke Kinugasa's *Gate of Hell* (1953), the first Japanese color film to be shown abroad, earning both an honorary Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Daiei also produced such renowned films as Kenji Mizoguchi's *Ugetsu* (1953) and *Sansho the Bailiff* (1954), as well as *Jokyo* ("A Woman's Testament", 1960) which was entered into the 10th Berlin International Film Festival. On the popular front, Daiei was also known for such successful film series as the *Zatoichi* series starring Shintaro Katsu, the *Nemuri Kyoshiro* (*Sleepy Eyes of Death*) series starring Raizō Ichikawa, the original *Gamera* series, the *Daimajin* trilogy and the *Yokai Monsters* trilogy. Daiei also produced many television series such as *Shōnen Jet*.

At its peak, Daiei featured such talent as the actors Raizō Ichikawa, Shintaro Katsu, Kazuo Hasegawa, Fujiko Yamamoto, Machiko Kyō, and Ayako Wakao; the directors Kenji Mizoguchi, Kon Ichikawa, Yasuzo Masumura, and Kenji Misumi; and the cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa.

Like some other Japanese film studios, Daiei had its own professional baseball team in the 1950s, the Daiei Stars, which later became the Daiei Unions. These teams eventually became the Chiba Lotte Marines.

## films

### 1950's

* *Claws of Iron* (1951)
* *Warning from Space* (1956)
* *Invisible Man vs. Human Fly* (1957)

### 1960's

* *Invisible Demon* (1960)
* *The Demon of Mount Oe* (1960)
* *Buddha* (1961)
* *Kujira Gami* (1962)
* *Wind Velocity 75 Meters* (1963)
* *Gamera* (1965)
* *Daimajin* (1966)
* *Gamera vs. Barugon* (1966)
* *Return of Daimajin* (1966)
* *Daimajin Strikes Again* (1966)
* *Gamera vs. Gyaos* (1967)
* *Gamera vs. Viras* (1968)
* *Yokai Monsters: One Hundred Monsters* (1968)
* *The Snow Woman* (1968)
* *The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch* (1968)
* *Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare* (1968)
* *Gamera vs. Guiron* (1969)
* *Yokai Monsters: Along with Ghosts* (1969)

### 1970's

* *Gamera vs. Jiger* (1970)
* *The Invisible Swordsman*(1970)
* *Gamera vs. Zigra* (1971)

### 1980's

* *Gamera: Super Monster* (1980)
* *Virus* (1980)

### 1990's

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

### 2000's

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

### 2020's

* *Nezura 1964* (2020) [licensed to 3Y Co., Ltd.]