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Yoshishige Shimatani has had a long career at Toho as a producer before finally given the honor of becoming Toho Eiga's fifth president in 2010, replacing Shogo Tomiyama for which his early career mimicked in many ways despite the two never joining forces until late in their respective careers with Tsubaki Sanjuro (2007) and The Last Princess (2008).
Shimatani first joined Toho in April of 1975, a mere month after graduating from Kyoto University, coincidentally joining the company around the same time Tomiyama did. Also like Tomiyama, he got his first break doing marketing work for the movie studio. Both also graduated to producing films for the company around the same time, with Yasha (1985) being one of the first movies that Shimatani oversaw. Also like Tomiyama, Shimatani got his big break into science fiction in 1989. However, where as Tomiyama produced Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989), which would forever tie his career with Toho's headlining franchise, Shimatani oversaw Gunhed (1989), crafted from the scrapped Godzilla 2 script, and would have a career split between dramas and tokusatsu productions.
Shimatani's work was well regarded within the company, having been an active producer for 25 years while helping to develop an incredible number of films at the turn of the millennium. As Toho shifted more toward creating films as part of production committees, involving other companies to reduce risk if a film should not perform well at the box office, Shimatani would often lead Toho's involvement in these films, such as with Returner (2002) and Howl's Moving Castle (2004). In fact, his reputation at Toho had grown so much that he was chosen as Tomiyama's replacement in April of 2010 to become the new president of Toho Eiga.
After just two years as president, Shimatani stepped down in April of 2012, and was replaced by Train Man (2005) producer Minami Ichikawa. |
