Toho, Japan's largest film distributor and exhibitor, has posted a record-breaking net profit of $78.5m (Y10.29 billion) for the fiscal year 2002, ended February 28, an increase of 16.2% over 2001.

The impressive profit surge is largely thanks to the unprecedented local success of Spirited Away, Hayao Miuyazaki's animated feature which has grossed $230m (Y30.19 billion) and recorded 23.33 million admissions since its Japanese release on July 20 last year.

Among Toho's other hit titles were Celebi: A Timeless Encounter, the latest feature in the Pokemon series which took $29.7m (Y3.9 billion), Onmyoji, Yojiro Takita's CG period action drama which took $23.6m (Y3.1 billion), followed by two hit animated series Doraemon: Nobita And The Winged Warriors which took $22.9m (Y3.0 billion) and Detective Conan: Countdown To The Heaven which took $22.0m (Y2.9 billion) at the box office.

Toho's forthcoming line-up includes Masahiro Shinoda's $15.2m (Y2.0 billion), Spy Sorge, staring Iain Glen as a Russian spy during World War II which will be released in summer 2003, Returner, Takashi Yamazaki's action adventure with Matrix-like latest special effects staring Takeshi Kaneshiro (Chung King Express) to be released in August 2002, Ryoma No Tsuma To Sono Aijin, Jun Ichikawa's comedy based on a hit play written by Koki Mitani (Welcome Back, Mr. Macdonald) to be released in autumn 2002 and The Copy Cat, Yoshimitsu Morita's serial-killer thriller which will be released in June 2002.