Toho Impacted By Coronavirus

Above, Godzilla peers over Toho Cinemas in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Toho Co., Ltd. has vast holdings in Japan, which includes several divisions.

The COVID-19 outbreak has caused Godzilla's parent company to lose revenue when the virus hit and the company was forced to shut down its theaters.

According to Variety:

Like its signature “Godzilla” franchise, Toho normally towers above the rest. The company is a producer, distributor and exhibitor that operates Japan’s largest theater chain. As a distributor, it consistently accounts for the lion’s share of local hits, and in some years it gets to release the films of anime maestro Hayao Miyazaki. 

But even mighty Toho is being brought low by the coronavirus crisis, which shuttered the nation’s theaters following a government state of emergency declaration early in April. 

For the first quarter of FY2021, from March 1 to May 31 of this year, Toho reported a plunge in revenues of 51% to $308 million, compared with $632 million in the same period last year. Meanwhile, profits fell 81% to $27 million, against $150 million in the first quarter of the last financial year.

Theaters in Japan have since been reopened, but with few new releases, business has been slow.

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