Marunouchi Louvre

This all started when the Yurakucho Station got started with its redevelopment project in 1978 when the former Asahi Shimbun Tokyo headquarters and the former Nippon Theater (Nichigeki) agreed in principle to redevelop the two buildings together. It had two phases, one of which was formerly the Asahi Building owned by the Asahi Shimbun Company that housed two Shochiku-affiliated theaters, the Marunouchi Piccadilly and the Marunouchi Shochiku. Naturally, Shochiku had the rights to the two theaters once the new building was completed, but Toei president Shigeru Okada used his political power to snatch one of the theaters. Okada is said to have been indebted to Hiroshi Okawa for having given all of his shares in NET (now TV Asahi) to the Asahi Shimbun Company, and said, “I have rights, don’t I?” At the time, Toei was at the time planning to move its headquarters to Myogadani (which they did) and wanted to keep two cinemas in the Ginza-Yurakucho area. Unfortunately this angered Shochiku president Toru Okuyama, who protested to Asahi Shimbun president Seiki Watanabe. However, Okada was wary that if Toho, which owned Nichigeki, took control of the new cinema, Yurakucho would become dominated by Toho, regardless of Shochiku. They responded that if they wanted to use this opportunity to solidify its entertainment network in the Yurakucho area. Initially, there were plans to build a battleship-sized Toei foreign film theater with a capacity of 1,000 but the high rent and financial considerations meant that it would be difficult to ensure profitability causing its plan to reconsider. It was later decided that it would be up to the residents to use the space of two theaters however they wanted, and they ended up building just one theater.

In January 1980, Okada became president of the Tokyu Recreation Company Limited, and the inauguration party for a Tokyu entertainment company was attended by many big names in the business world, including his brother Noboru Goto. Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Shigeo Nagano, Vice Chairman Goro Koyama, and Hiroki Imazato. The theater chains immediately became their own battle, which were Toho (TY chain) vs. Shochiku and Tokyu Recreation (ST chain). At that time, the Japanese foreign film exhibition was run by three major companies, Toho, Shochiku, and Tokyu Recreation. They even had their own market share, the market share being 6 for TY chain and 4 for ST, with most of the big films went to TY. At the time, Toei only had three foreign film theaters in Tokyo, but about 50 in the provinces. Conversely, Tokyu Recreation did not have any theaters in the provinces. Shochiku had a few large theaters in Tokyo and if they cut ties with Tokyu Recreation, not only for foreign films but also for Japanese films, it would affect their roadshow releases. Shochiku was careful not to upset Tokyu, but when Okada became president of Tokyu Recreation, there were predictions in the industry that the ST chain would be reorganized, with Shochiku being removed and Toei and Tokyu Recreation forming a new foreign film chain, which would eventually join the TY chain. If that happens then all the foreign films including American films would go to TY, putting Shochiku in a difficult position and increasing Okada’s influence within the ST chain. Alliances are prone to internal conflicts as people compete for the initiative, and one document states that Toho “watched from the sidelines, hoping for Okada’s grandstanding”, hile another states that “Shochiku had no choice but to plot to block Toei’s participation, but the Asahi Shimbun Company interfered and it didn’t work.” Tokyu Recreation had been considered a burden to the Tokyu Group until then, but with the appointment of Okada, who was a close ally of Tokyu Group’s president, Goto Noboru, the company’s status improved and employees' motivation also increased. As the ST chain grew stronger, the company was also able to acqire steam such as “E.T.” and in the fiscal year ending December 1983, when hit films continued to appear. Tokyu Recreation achieved its highest results since its founding, a 52% increase over the previous year, with sales of 17.65 billion yen, an unprecedented result for a single theater company.

Noboru Goto became chairman of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry in May 1984. Goto had originally been an executive of the Kabukiza Theater since the time of Takejiro Otani. Throughout this relationship, he became an executive of Shochiku in the 1970s as a director and advisor. He worked with Hiroki Imazato while trying to avoid conflict when then-president of Shochiku, Ryuzo Otani, committed an arson attack in February 1984. He resolved the issue of the successor to the company amicably. At the end of 1985, Goto became Shochiku’s largest individual shareholder, and in June 1989, Odaka became a director of the Tokyu Corporation, further increasing the influence of the Goto-Okada duo.

It was originally planned to be built as a Toei theater but Okada took the initiative to cause internal conflict within the ST chain, which would have played into the hands of the TY chain, and decided that the unity of the three parties, Shochiku, Tokyu Recreation, and Toei, was the first priority. Toei has a Marunouchi Toei Theater nearby, but this is Toei’s first foray into Yurakucho. Tokyu Recreation had theaters in Shibuya and Shinjuku but none in Ginza, Yurakucho nor Hibiya areas. Because of this, its a very long wait for them.

The theater opened as the T&T Movie Exhibition on October 3, 1987 with “The Witches Of Eastwick” as a 516-seat single-screener. On December 5, 1992, the Japanese premiere of the American smash “The Bodyguard” was held at the Marunouchi Louvre and the biggest smash-hit throughout the theater’s history. The film ended up stunting for six months at the Marunouchi Louvre throughout the remainder of 1992 and all of early-1993.

Its capacity of seats were downgraded from 516 to 470 in 2005 (with one wheelchair space), and on December 10 of that same year, it was renamed Salonpas Louvre Marunouchi. It was then taken over by Tokyu Recreation who renamed it Marunouchi Louvre on December 1, 2008.

The Marunouchi Louvre closed for the final time on August 3, 2014 after its building lease expired. Since closing, the theater’s chairs were originally used at the Shibuya Toei. It was converted into the Alternative Theatre, a live performance house from July 7, 2017 until closing on September 25, 2022.

Some unique features of the theater include the ceiling being decorated with a huge Austrian chandelier made of about 10,000 pieces of special crystal glass, various facilities were top-notch, and the cinema’s facilities cost a total of 2 billion yen. The lobby also featured a photo of “Holy Family” by Japanese painter Tatsuo Takayama and featured soft light purple carpets and the walls were inlaid with a generous amount of imported marble for the interior.

Get Movie Tickets & Showtimes

Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.