[UPDATE] October 17, 2019 2:30 p.m. EST Studio Ghibli has signed a deal with HBO Max to bring 21 movies to the new streaming service, exclusively, IndieWire reports. This accounts for the first time that Studio Ghibli films will be available on a streaming platform.
WarnerMedia is scheduled to launch HBO Max in April of next year. Studio Ghibli movies such as as Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, Howl's Moving Castle, Kiki's Delivery Service, and The Tale of The Princess Kaguya, among others, will be viewable at the time HBO Max becomes available. You can also look forward to additional films coming to the streaming service in the fall of 2020.
"We are excited to be working with HBO Max to bring the complete collection of Studio Ghibli films to streaming audiences in the U.S.," Studio Ghibli chairman Koji Hoshino said in a statement. "As a premium content brand, HBO Max is an ideal home for our films. Upon launch of the service this spring, existing Ghibli fans will be able enjoy their favorites and delve deeper into the library, while whole new audiences will be able to discover our films for the first time."
These are the Studio Ghibli films that will be streaming on HBO Max in 2020: Castle in the Sky, The Cat Returns, From Up On Poppy Hill, Howl's Moving Castle, Kiki's Delivery Service, My Neighbor Totoro, My Neighbors the Yamadas, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Ocean Waves, Only Yesterday, Pom Poko, Ponyo, Porco Rosso, Princess Mononoke, The Secret World of Arrietty, Spirited Away, The Tale of The Princess Kaguya, Tales From Earthsea, When Marnie Was There, Whisper of the Heart, and The Wind Rises.
Read our original post below.
If you've been holding onto a dream that Studio Ghibli movies would be licensed to streaming platforms like Netflix, Disney+, or Hulu, you're going to be disappointed. The studio has no plans nor intentions to do anything of the sort, Polygon reports.
GKids, the company that owns Studio Ghibli's North American distribution rights, has clearly stated that if audiences want to watch slices of that Ghibli magic, they're going to have to do it the OG way.
In other words, as GKids represented explained, "Studio Ghibli does not make their films available digitally, whether for download or streaming, anywhere in the world. They continue to believe that presentation is vital and particularly appreciate opportunities for audiences to experience the films together in a theatrical setting."
Fans won't be able to find animated classics like My Neighbor Totoro or Spirited Away on streaming platforms or even to rent. You will either have to go to Ghibli Fest screenings, to the cinema, or purchase a physical copy.
"I'm a man of the 20th century," Miyazaki says in the documentary The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness. "I don't want to deal with the 21st."
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