Home Run Theater

Shochiku opened the Kawagoe Home Run Theater in 1950, but later became a theater directly managed by Toei and was renamed the the Kawagoe Toei Theater. However, it was affectionately known to locals as Home Run Theater, with its name coming from the desire to create a movie theater where a hit could be made, like a “high fly ball into deep center field, back at the wall, its gone”.

After renovation in 1988, the single-screener was divided into a triplex. After the renovation, it not only screened Toei films, but also screened many Japanese and foreign films from Toho and Shochiku.

Towards the end of its life, the number of attendees dropped dramatically as many multiplexes exploded across the neighboring areas, such as the neighboring areas of Fujimino and Tsurugashima, and the theater closed on February 19, 2006, bringing an end to its 56-year history as the Home Run Theater. The building was then renovated and was converted into an annex for the adjacent Kawagoe Mitsui Hospital.

Right when United Cinemas opened their Minamifuruya location nearby on November 29, 2008, a memorial plaque was displayed in the lobby that chronicles the theater’s 56-year history, and occasionally holds screenings of classic films on a screen called “Home Run”.

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