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Japanese

The Tōkyō Film Public Corporation (東映株式会社) TYO: 9605 (incorporated as Tōkyō Film Distribution (東京映画配給) October 1 1949 (昭和二十四年十月一日)) is a Japanese film and television production and distribution corporation. Headquartered at House 17, 2nd Lookout, 3rd District, Ginza, Chūō, Tōkyō (１０４－８１０８東京都中央区銀座三丁目二番十七号), Tōei owns and operates thirty-four (34) cinema houses across Japan, a modest vertically-integrated studio system by the standards of the 1930's United States; operates studios at Tōkyō and Kyōto; and is a stockholder in several television companies. Notable productions include animations (アニメ), live action dramas using special visual effects (特撮), and historical dramas (時代劇).

Tōei was a pioneer in the use of character transformation (変身) in live-action martial-arts dramas, a technique developed for the Kamen Rider Series (仮面ライダーシリーズ), Devilman (デビルマン) and Ultraman (ウルトラマン); the genre currently continues (as of 2007) with the Metal Heroes series (メタルヒーローシリーズ) and Super Sentai series (スーパー戦隊シリーズ).

As of March 2006, Tōei retains 11% of its common stock and 16% of its preferred stock (朝株).

(For background on historical action-films (チャンバラ Chanbara) see Samurai cinema.)

History
Tōkyō-Yokohama Films (東横映画), incorporated 1938, had previously erected its facilities immediately east of the Tōkyō Kyūkō Tōkyō-Yokohama Line (東急東横線) right-of-way; they managed the Tōkyō Kyūkō Shibuya Yokohama studio system prior to V-J Day. From 1945 through the Tōei merger, Tōkyō-Yokohama Films leased from the Daiei Motion Picture Company (大映株式会社) the Kyoto second studio.

On October 1 1949, the Tōkyō Film Distribution Company was incorporated; in 1951 the company had purchased the Ōizumi Film Company (太泉映画).

During 1950 through 1964, Tōei Contemporary Drama had a roster of new artists including Jiro Ebara (江原真二郎), Hitomi Nakawara (中原ひとみ), Ken Takakura (高倉健), Ryoko Sakuma (佐久間良子), Tatsuo Umemiya (梅宮辰夫), Yoshiko Mita (三田佳子), Sonny Chiba (千葉真一), and Reiko Ohara (大原麗子).

In 1957, Tōei established an animation division, Tōei Animation Company, Ltd. (東映動画株式会社) at the former Tōkyō–Ōizumi animation studio, purchasing the assets of Japan Animated Films (日本動画映画) to expedite the process. In so doing, they gained the combined talents and experience of Japanese period piece actors Chiyozo Kataoka (片岡千恵蔵), Koidaieimon Ichikawa (市川右太衛門), Rionosuke Tsukigata (月形龍之介), Ryutaro Otomo (大友柳太朗), Kinnosuke Yorozuya (萬屋錦之介), Chiyonosuke Azuma (東千代之介), Shirunosuke Toshin (東千代之介), Hashizo Ogawa (大川橋蔵), &c.