“Japanese entertainment heavyweight Toho is stepping up its global expansion, unveiling plans Friday to establish a European headquarters while acquiring British anime distributor Anime Limited and entering into a strategic alliance with Germany’s Plaion Pictures. The moves will see Toho Global — the company’s overseas business arm — set up European operations in London first”, — write: www.hollywoodreporter.com
The moves will see Toho Global — the company’s overseas business arm — set up European operations in London before the end of the year, positioning the new base as a continental hub for film, television, streaming, home entertainment, merchandise and games, all tied to Toho’s animation and select live-action IP.
The European push follows a busy period of overseas expansion for Toho, as the company has worked to build a global operating infrastructure around its IP amid the surging international popularity of Japanese anime and live-action content. In late 2024, Toho acquired US-based animation distributor GKIDS and launched Toho Entertainment Asia in Singapore, establishing operational hubs across North America and Asia. With the addition of Europe, Toho now maintains bases in all three major regions.
The timing reflects a broader surge in global demand for Japanese content — anime in particular — across both streaming platforms and theatrical markets. Japanese titles have increasingly broken out beyond core fandoms, supported by global release strategies and event-style theatrical runs. The trend became unmistakable in 2025, when Sony Group’s Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle earned a staggering $715 million at the global box office. For Toho, the momentum has been especially visible through GKIDS, which has handled North American releases of recent international standouts such as Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron and Makoto Shinkai’s Suzumeboth of which delivered unusually strong theatrical performances.
The move also comes as Europe emerges as one of the fastest-growing international markets for anime. Industry estimates value the European anime sector at roughly $4.8 billion in 2024, with projections that it could nearly double by the end of the decade, expanding at a double-digit annual pace. Toho’s strategy is designed to position the company to participate more directly in that growth, pairing its own distribution operations in the UK and France with Plaion Pictures’ established reach across continental Europe.
As part of the strategy, Toho Global will acquire 100 percent of Anime Limited from Plaion Pictures, bringing the UK-based distributor under its European structure. Anime Limited founder and managing director Andrew Partridge will remain with the company and join the leadership team of Toho’s European regional headquarters.
“We are excited to welcome Andrew and the Anime Ltd team into the growing Toho family, and to begin our new cooperative relationship with Plaion Pictures,” said Koji Ueda, president and representative director of Toho Global. He added that the move accelerates Toho’s international expansion timeline. “We look forward to working together with our new team members and partners to bring amazing content to fans in the UK, France and across the Continent.”
Founded in 2012, Anime Limited operates primarily in the UK and France, handling theatrical distribution, home video and streaming releases of Japanese animation. Its catalog includes titles such as Attack on Titan, JUJUTSU KAISEN, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Your Name, Weathering With You and One Piece Film: Red. The company also released Toho’s Godzilla Minus One in the UK, where it became the highest-grossing Japanese live-action film of all time.
“Both myself and the team have long loved working together on TOHO properties, as evident from making Godzilla Minus One the best Japanese live action box office hit of all time in the UK,” Partridge said. “We look forward to becoming part of the Toho family and working closer and more collaboratively with its group companies to expand the interest of anime across our territories.”
Alongside the acquisition, Toho Global and Plaion Pictures have agreed to form a strategic alliance that positions Plaion as Toho’s preferred partner across Germany, Italy and other European territories, extending Toho’s reach beyond the UK and France.