From the house of mouse to GKIDS, Ghibli’s making a bit of a course change.
Earlier today, distributor GKIDS announced that they acquired the North American DVD and Blu-Ray rights to Studio Ghibli’s entire catalog… well, almost their entire catalog. The company will re-release titles under their banner starting in October.
The current release schedule is as follows:
October 21
- Howl’s Moving Castle
- Kiki’s Delivery Service
- My Neighbor Totoro
- Ponyo
- Princess Mononoke
- Spirited Away
October 31
- Castle in the Sky
- Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
My Neighbors the Yamadas will hit stores in early 2018.
In a Twitter conversation, GKIDS revealed that they don’t hold the rights to Grave of the Fireflies as it’s in active distribution, nor do they have a license for The Wind Rises due to the recent release date.
Ghibli will provide the English subtitles on every release, and each disc will include both French subtitles and English SDH subtitles for the dubbed adaptations. And worry not, readers, GKIDS promises real subtitles for Kiki, Princess Mononoke, and Castle in the Sky.
GKIDS has already released several Studio Ghibli films on Blu-ray, including From Up On Poppy Hill, Only Yesterday, Ocean Waves, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, and When Marnie Was There.
The publisher has also held the theatrical rights to Ghlibli’s films since 2010. The company recently entered a partnership with distributor Fathom Events to host screenings for catalog features as part of an ongoing “Studio Ghibli Fest.” The event kicked off last month with a screening of My Neighbor Totoro. This month, Kiki’s Delivery Service will screen on July 23 and 24.
That said, this news is a bit of a surprise. In 1996, Disney and Tokuma Shoten inked a deal that granted the House of Mouse the rights to nearly every Studio Ghibli title, save Grave of the Fireflies (held by Central Park Media at the time) and Ocean Waves. Disney’s last studio Ghibli release came about in 2014, when they released Hayao Miyazaki’s then-final feature The Wind Rises.
Sources: Variety, Twitter (GKids)
