Toho Wooing Japanese Women To See "Godzilla"

Godzilla is opening in Japan in three days and the movie's distributor, Toho Co., Ltd. (also Godzilla's parent company), is trying to woo young women into the theaters.

Variety reported:

TOKYO – Top Japanese distributor Toho is targeting women in order to make its release of the Legendary Pictures-made “Godzilla” a box office success. 

The original Japanese “Godzilla” series was a Toho line-up staple for generations, but was pitched squarely at what Toho described as the “family market” — meaning parents with young children. Conspicuous by their absence in the seats were young women — a key audience demo in Japan.  This limited the B.O. impact of the series, which ended in 2004 with “Godzilla: Final Wars,” a flop with earnings of $12 million. 

To test how to bring young Japanese women to the theaters to see Godzilla, Toho held a "talk event" with 100 women who had no interest in seeing the movie. After the event, these women apparently changed their minds and indicated a desire to see the movie. It remains to be seen if they will actually do so.

To read more, go here.