Toho monster films on streaming

[KingKaiju]

As the title says. It seems as though everyone is moving to streaming nowadays. I'm not sure if this is the case globally, or just online, but the streaming wars between companies has made me wonder about Toho potentially attemping to make straight-to-streaming films. While Godzilla is being handled by Legendary, I wonder what Toho's thoughts are on moving to streaming and potentially producing products specifically for streaming. It could be a chance to release some riskier films, as a cheaper price, without having to risk the costs of creating and promoting a film in theaters. Imagine a reaimagined Baragon or something, straight to Japanese Netflix or soemthing.

[JAGzilla]

The Polygon Trilogy and Singular Point were straight to Netflix. Even if those weren't directly produced by Toho, they're obviously very aware of and willing to use streaming services.

[Legion1979]

On the other hand, one is a TV show and the anime films are certainly not what I'd call "major" Godzilla movies.

[JAGzilla]

No, but they definitely qualify as "products produced specifically for streaming."

You know... unlikely as it may be, made-for-streaming movies might be our best bet to see suitmation revived. As KingKaiju said, there's less risk involved, and it's not as necessary to maximize mainstream appeal.

[Arbok]

No, but they definitely qualify as "products produced specifically for streaming."

The anime trilogy went to theaters in Japan.

A case could be made for Singular Point, but even that saw a traditional TV release in Japan alongside its streaming release there.

Anyway, on topic, one thing to consider is that Toho has a major stake in the theater market in Japan. That doesn't prevent them from doing streaming only content, but they will generally side toward theatrical if they think they can for the content. If we see stuff hit streaming it would probably be in place of direct to video (OVs and OAVs) ala some old examples like Super Atragon, Mikadroid and the Gransazers movie.

[LSD Jellyfish]

As mentioned above, Toho owns and controls, at least partially, Toho Cinemas, one of the major film chains in Japan. Additionally, they sell a bulk of goods in the lobby. The instant they stop releasing Godzilla films in theaters in Japan is the death of Japanese movie theaters in general, and I wouldn't expect it anytime soon.

However, television shows are another story entirely. Recently (as with all over the world), cable TV is dying. In Japan it's taken a bit longer, but it's starting to happen. A lot of famous producers, television actors, and other types of series, are beginning to produce content for various streaming platforms in Japan, with external help. Examples include, The Naked Director by Masaharu Take, which was made for and by Netflix. A lot of creators in Japan are more and more interested in releasing television shows/works globally, and I think it's very likely that it'll continue to be a trend.

Btw, I didn't watch Godzilla Singular Point on TV here. I watched it on Netflix. While they did release Godzilla SP on traditional cable here, the episodes were delayed by one week. In otherwords, while people had the option to watch things on Netflix, cable tv was a "free" and slightly outdated model.