Daiei (short for Dai-Nihon Eiga, or the Greater Japan Motion Picture Production Company) was formed in 1942 from the merger of Nikkatsu, Shinko and Daito, government-mandated consolidation of all Japanese film studios into three companies (the other two being Shochiku and Toho). Masaichi Nagata, formerly the head of Shinko, was president of Daiei from 1942 until the company's 1971 bankruptcy.
The company was revived by 1974 under Tokuma Shoten. In 2002, Daiei was acquired by Kadokawa Shoten. The company was first renamed Kadokawa Daiei; two years later, it became Kadokawa Pictures.
Daiei was/is best known for the Gamera series of Kaiju films. Other Daiei releases included Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon (Kurosawa did most of the rest of his work for Daiei's rival Toho), the Palme d'Or winner Gate of Hell, and most of the works of acclaimed director Kenji Mizoguchi.
Films produced by Daiei include:
- An Actor's Revenge
- Being Two Isn't Easy
- Buddha
- Black Lizard
- Bonchi
- Castle in the Sky (distribution only, codistributed with Toei Company)
- Clothes of Deception
- The Crucified Lovers
- Daimajin
- Dersu Uzala
- Enjo
- Fires on the Plain
- Floating Weeds
- Gamera series
- Gate of Hell
- Genji monogatari
- Grave of the Fireflies (distribution only, codistributed with Toho)
- Jirocho Fuji
- Life of a Horse Trader
- Madadayo
- My Neighbor Totoro (distribution only, codistributed with Toho)
- Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (distribution only, codistributed with Toei Company)
- Odd Obsession
- Older Brother, Younger Sister
- Princess Yang Kwei-Fei
- Rashomon
- Sansho the Bailiff
- Shall We Dance? (1996)
- Street of Shame
- Ugetsu
- Warning From Space
- A Woman's Testament
- Zatoichi series
