Gotanda Nikkatsu Theater

The 684-seat Tokyo Central Theater opened its doors in either May or June 1950 as a movie house screening American features under both Tokyo International Kogyo and Central Pictures affiliations. The theater was located on the right hand side of the Osaki Bridge overpass the Meguro River from Gotanda Station on the Yamanote Line and Tokyu Ikegami Line, and was close to Osaki-Hirokoji Station on the Ikegami Line.

The theater’s original manager, Kondo Hyakutaro, joined Shochiku in 1920 and worked for Towa Shoji (now Toho Towa), before becoming the president of Tokyo Eiga Shokai, a trading company for educational films during the early sound era. It’s grand opening film remains unknown at this time, but its original lineup contains American films released during World War II and after, including films released by MGM, 20th Century Fox, Paramount, Columbia, RKO, United Artists, and Republic. During intermission, various images of countless fish were shown on the screen.

After Central Pictures went defunct on December 27, 1951, the theater joined the SY chain, a foreign film chain formed by Shockiku’s foreign film department. At the time, more movie theaters began to grow including the Gotandas Toei (opened as the Osakikan in 1910’s, followed by Toho in November 1938, Toyoko in January 1946, and finally Toei in April 1951), Meigaza (opened in October 1952), Olympia (opened in August 1954), and Daiei (opened on December 27, 1955) Theaters bringing a total of movie theaters in Gotanda to six as of 1955, but more were added later on. By that same year, its capacity went down to 584 seats.

The Tokyo Central Theater officially left the SY chain following its dissolvement in May 1958 after its showing of Bob Hope in “Paris Holiday”. At the same time, it was renamed the Gotanda Nikkatsu Theater following an extensive remodeling, and more Japanese movies began to screen there. Its seating capacity was then upgraded to 668 by the early-1960’s. In 1960, Chuo Eiga Kogyo was replaced by Yagi Soshichi as manager.

The peak of the movie theater industry in the area quickly passed, with later theaters including the Gotanda Olympia Movie Theater in 1961 and the Gotanda Daiei Theater in 1968 closing one after the other. Due to the financial difficulties Nikkatsu faced, the studio closed in 1969 with a later buying the studio again.

At the same time Hori Kyusaku resigned in 1971, the Gotanda Nikkatsu Theater last operated with 264 seats and closed around November of that same year, leaving Gotanda with three movie theaters remaining until 1973 and two theaters (including a twin-screen) remaining until 1990. The Nikkatsu theater building was then demolished a few years later and the Nippon Life Gotanda Building was built on its site which opened in July 1974.

Both the last remaining Gotanda movie theaters, the Toeis and the Meigaza, closed within a year apart, with the Meigaza closing on June 26, 1989 and the twin-screen Toei theaters between September 30, 1990 and an unknown date in 1991, leaving the area without a movie theater ever since.

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