is a Japanese movie theater company. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Toho Co., Ltd.

Overview

Virgin Cinemas Virgin Cinemas was founded in 1995 when Richard Branson's Virgin Group acquired MGM Cinemas, the largest movie theatre operator in the United Kingdom. Virgin Group bought the cinemas for £195m, and subsequently sold 90 of the chain's smalles ...

Japan Ltd. was founded by Japanese-American businessman Mark Yamamoto on September 12, 1997. Virgin Cinemas Trias Hisayama, their first theatre, opened in

Fukuoka Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 km2 (1,925 sq mi). Fukuoka Prefecture borders Saga Prefecture to the southwest, K ...

on April 23, 1999. By the end of 2002, it expanded from 8 theatres to 81 and became Japan's sixth largest film entertainment company. On April 4, 2003, Toho purchased Virgin Cinemas for 10.3 billion yen, renaming the company Toho Cinemas. Since then, Toho and other companies have developed cinema complexes under the new brand. In addition, many cinemas that the Toho Group had previously operated were renamed after the renewal. Toho Cinemas also integrated the ticketing system and point cards. On October 1, 2006, Toho Cinemas succeeded Toho's film and entertainment division as the parent company, due to the restructuring of the Toho Group's film entertainment division, with the aim of improving management efficiency as a wholly owned subsidiary of the company's film entertainment business. As a next step, Toho East Japan Kogyo Co., Ltd., Chubu Toho, Toho Kansai Koki Co., and Kyushu Toho merged into Toho Cinemas, Ltd. on March 1, 2008. In 2007, the chain debuted a series of policy trailers featuring characters from the hit anime series ''Secret Society Eagle Talon''. After reorganizing, the chain began to operate several conventional pavilions and other cinemas under the name Cinema Media. In July 2013, Toho Cinemas had the second most movie theaters in Japan, after Ion Entertainment. In May 2015, Toho inaugurated Dreampass, an online service that sells tickets for frequently requested movies.

References

External links

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Toho Cinemas LTD.
Cinema chains in Japan Toho Mass media companies based in Tokyo Entertainment companies established in 1997 {{Film-company-stub