Cinefuku Daikokuza

The Daikokuza opened its doors in 1892 as a live performance and special events house, but would later suffer destruction from a 1927 fire that was caused by arson and the Fukuyama air raid on August 8, 1945. It was later rebuilt as a two-story wooden movie theater in December 1950 housing 658 seats.

The Daikokuza suffered destruction from a third fire in 1960, which led into a rebuild with reinforced concrete, and the remodeled into a twin-screen theater under the names “Daikokuza” and “Shintenchi Daiei”. The Daikokuza auditorium contains the second movie theater to have 70mm projection. During its peak, it attracted 400,000 moviegoers per year throughout the remainder of the 1960’s. At the time, it was operated by Fukimoto Kogyo, who also operated six other theaters across Fukuyama. Its capacity was downgraded a little to 510 seats during the mid-1970’s, but at the time, it was one out of two foreign film roadshow theaters in the city, with the other being the nearby Fukuyama Piccadilly Theater.

A third screen was added in 1987, and all three auditoriums were named the Daikokuza, Milanoza, and La Scala theaters. The Daikokuza and Milanoza screened first-run American features, while the La Scala was a premiere affiliate for Shochiku. During the early-1990s, it expanded to four screens when one of the Milanoza auditoriums was twinned. The La Scala and one of the two Milanoza auditoriums were renamed the Cinema Mode 1 & 2 on January 26, 2008, and on April 20, 2013, the Daikokuza, Milanoza, and Cinema Mode 1 and 2 were unified under the name “Cinefuku Daikokuza”.

In total, the theater has a capacity of 791 seats, with Screen 2, formerly the original Daikokuza, had 361 seats, while the former Milanoza auditoriums, Screens 2 and 3, had 190 seats each, and Screen 4, the former La Scala, had 50 seats.

Unfortunately, due to deterioration of the facility, including leaks and plumbing problems, and declining sales due to the hollowing out of the city center, the four-screen multiplex closed for the final time on August 31, 2014. It was demolished immediately afterward and a commercial facility called Lawson Pupure Himawari Fukuyama Daikokuza Store, which is a joint venture between major convenience store chain Lawson and Fukuyama-based drug store chain Pupure Himawari, opened on the site on July 31, 2015.

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