CINEX

Two movie theaters, the Gofu Toho Theater and the Gofu Shochiku Underground Theater, opened their doors on June 22, 1956 as Japanese premiere theaters for both Toho and Shochiku.

Unfortunately, one of the two auditoriums did suffer a tragedy incident. A showing of the Japanese film “Japan Sinks” in early 1974, many moviegoers collapsed from their seats and suffered medical emergencies. They were rushed to nearby hospitals for treatment, but authorities confirmed that the audience suffered anemia from the action of the film.

The two Toho and Shochiku theaters closed on January 31, 1993, and the whole building was reconstructed with a total of 3 billion yen (which is almost $20 million in United States money). After massive reconstruction comes the CINEX, an eight-story, one-basement commercial building housing a multiplex theater, opening on March 22, 1995.

Screen 1 housed 290 seats, while Screen 2 housed 192 seats, Screen 3 housing 88 seats, and Screen 4 housing 69 seats. Screen 1 was located on the 7th floor, while the other three screens are located on the 5th floor. In December 2020, Screen 1 closed as a movie theater and was renovated into the Gifu Aoi Theater that does performing arts and live entertainment among others.

Speaking of the Gifu Aoi Theater, the Gifu Aoi was also a relocation from two previous locations, and one of which also once served as a movie theater called the Toyotomi Toei Theater, which opened after World War II as the Toyotomi-kan, renamed the Toyotomi Toei Theater on June 19, 1976, and closed on September 13, 2002. The original Gifu Aoi opened as the Toyotomiza Theater on December 8, 2007 and was renamed the Gifu Aoi Theater on July 2, 2011 when it was relocated to the site of the Don Quijote Yanagase store and that operated until its December 2020 closure for relocation to the CINEX building.

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