Taiyo Theatre

The Taiyo Theatre opened its doors on April 3, 1946 with the 1942 sound reissue of Charlie Chaplin’s 1925 smash “The Gold Rush”, which drew an audience of over 60,000 in just the first two weeks of operation. This was the first ever movie theater to import American films after the war in Japan, and the theater would later become Kyushu’s leading entertainment district as a movie theater showcasing foreign films including American features.

It was originally a wooden-structed building but was rebuilt into a four-story reinforced concrete building on December 3, 1952. At first, the theater alternated between showing foreign films and Japanese films primarily under the Daiei formula but Japanese movies were dropped in 1958. Since the 1960’s, it shows major foreign films from Shochiku Tokyu, which are affiliated with Shibuya Pantheon/Marunouchi Louvre in Tokyo. A little notable moment during the theater’s popularity is when Walt Disney’s older brother, Roy O. Disney, visited Japan, he visited the Taiyo Theatre, the first movie theater to import American films after the war, and shook hands with Juzo Okabe.

Some of the most notable films screened at the Taiyo Theatre include “The Great Escape”, “The Great Race”, “Bullitt”, “The Towering Inferno”, “Jaws” (first film to receive 100,000 moviegoers at the Taiyo), “Airport ‘77”, the Superman series, “E.T.” (E.T. was the Taiyo Theatre’s biggest hit in its history, which attracted over 160,000 moviegoers in its six-month run), “Gremlins”, “Beverly Hills Cop”, “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome”, “The Goonies”, “Cobra”, “Platoon”, many Lethal Weapons, “Major League”, “Twins”, “Batman”, “JFK”, “The Bodyguard” (the second biggest hit in the Taiyo Theatre’s history, which attracted 120,000 moviegoers), “Unforgiven” (the American original), “A Perfect World”, “Pulp Fiction”, “The Bridges Of Madison County”, “Jumanji”, “Eraser”, “Men In Black”, “Deep Impact”, “The Matrix”, “The Perfect Storm”, several Harry Potters, “The Polar Express”, and “The Aviator” among others.

As the movie industry began to decline, the theater was completely renovated. In 1978, the “New Taiyo” was added, and by the end of the decade, it was twinned into two screens under the names “Taiyo” and “New Taiyo”. In 1980, the mini-theater “Taiyo Cine Salon” was added, and in 1989, the “New Taiyo 2” was added, and by 1990, there were four theaters under the Taiyo Theater, New Taiyo 1, New Taiyo 2, and the Taiyo Cine Salon.

On April 20, 1996, the general entertainment facility “Canal City Hakata” opened in the Sumiyoshi district of Hakata Ward, Fukuoka City, which is also a Kyushu Roadshow area, and AMC Theatres opened their multiplex 13-screen “AMC Canal City 13” (now United Cinema Canal City 13) in the mall. Due to the influence of the advance of multiplexes into the center of Hakata, movie theaters in the Nakasu area were forced to close one after another, and Toho Kyushu Kogyo reorganized and moved to the Tenjin area (via the Tenjin Toho and later the TOHO Cinemas Tenjin). The Taiyo Theatre was then renovated, and on July 3, 1999, all screen names were unified to Nakasu Taiyo. Screen 1 housed 301 seats with Dolby Digital and DTS systems, while Screen 2 housed 150 seats (formerly 213 seats), Screen 3 housed 85 seats (formerly 102 seats) and Screen 4 housed 60 seats. Screen 4 was originally the Taiyo Cine Salon auditorium, while Screens 2 and 3 are originally the New Taiyo auditoriums. Due to the closure of the direct theaters of Shochiku and Toei, the theater began to show foreign films from both groups (mainly from the Marunouchi Piccadilly side) as well as Japanese films. All screens were switched to DLP projection during the early-2010’s.

In addition, since the TOHO Cinemas Tenjin Main Building closed at the end of March 2017, the program lineup was freed. The “10:00 AM Film Festival” that was held at the TOHO Cinemas Tenjin Main Building has been screened at the Taiyo Movie Theater since 2017. The theater did receive a Coronavirus closure from April 8 until May 6, 2020. Unfortunately due to the building’s deterioration, the Taiyo Theatre closed for the final time at the end of March 2024. It was demolished later but there are plans to reopen it in a new building to be constructed on the site. Unfortunately that remains unknown at this time.

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