The closing of the Marunouchi Toei in the heart of Tokyo¡¯s Ginza neighborhood on July 27 marks the end of an era ¡ª and not only because it is Toei Company¡¯s last directly managed movie theater.
Opened 65 years ago on Sept. 20, 1960, in the then-brand-new Toei headquarters building, the two-screen venue was once a jewel in the corporate crown of Toei, a major film producer, distributor and exhibitor. The studio was launched in 1951 and flourished in Japanese cinema¡¯s postwar golden age, when movies were at the top of the country¡¯s entertainment pyramid and fans flocked by the millions to see Toei¡¯s signature samurai action films.
But after multiplexes entered the Japanese theatrical market in the early 1990s, so-called roadside theaters like Marunouchi Toei ¡ª movie palaces located in central urban areas near train lines (the ¡°road¡± of ¡°roadside¡±) and directly managed by big film companies ¡ª went into decline as facilities and equipment aged and audiences opted for multiplexes, which offer state-of-the-art projection and more varied programming. The Marunouchi Toei is the last of its kind in Japan.
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