Toho Buys Controlling Stake in TIA Animation Firm – Global Bulletin
variety.comPatrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Japan’s biggest film group Toho announced that it has taken a controlling stake in TIA (previously Toho Interactive Animation), a production company behind the “100 Nichikan Ikita Wani,” film and anime series “iii icecrin,” “iii icecrin2” “Ninja Collection” and “That Is the Bottleneck.” Originally known as I&A, the company was established in 2017 by ILCA and Anima.
The name changed to TIA after Toho bought a nearly 35% from the two founders in 2020. Toho has now bought out Anima’s stake, giving it a 67.4% majority holding and cause to rename the company again, this time to Toho Animation Studio.
Deal terms were not disclosed. Keiji Ota, managing executive officer of Toho, in charge of the studio’s video business and digital content division, is to be appointed as president and representative director at Toho Animation Studio.
Toho has been ramping up slowly in animation over the past ten years and recently enjoyed success with “Jujutsu Kaisen 0: The Movie.” But earlier this year, in a revised mission statement, the group said that it should expand further and make anime its fourth core business. “Women in Taipei,” the first series to be completed by Taiwan’s Sequoia Entertainment has begun to play on the Disney+ streaming platform in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia, with expansion to other territories possible later.
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