Disney Will No Longer Distribute Future Ghibli Films

[John Pannozzi]

Oh, yes, Disney did co-fund the Ghibli movies.

[Sotiris]

Oh, yes, Disney did co-fund the Ghibli movies.

Thanks for the links. To answer your initial question, considering that Disney also co-funded From Up on Poppy Hill yet they are not distributing it in North America, I'm assuming that they will continue to co-fund them.

[Sotiris]

Now the company is expanding — tripling the size of its small office in New York over coming months and releasing more movies with broader ambitions — "From Up on Poppy Hill," for instance, was the highest grossing movie in Japan last year, and GKIDS is taking the place of the Walt Disney Co. as the U.S. distributor for Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli.

Source: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/mo ... 3475.story

[DisneyJedi]

Dammit!

[estefan]

I don't see what's so upsetting about this. Admittedly, GKIDS doesn't have the wide distribution of Disney, but they're shown to be passionate about every film they release and maybe, ever so slowly, they will start releasing their films more and more widely.

[Sotiris]

It would be nice if all of the Ghibli catalogue was under the same distributor in North America. Disney still has the home video rights to all prior Ghibli films (except for Grave of the Fireflies). Disney should sell the home video rights to GKids and get it over with. GKids already has the theatrical rights to those films.

[MJW]

It would be nice if all of the Ghibli catalogue was under the same distributor in North America. Disney still has the home video rights to all prior Ghibli films (except for Grave of the Fireflies). Disney should sell the home video rights to GKids and get it over with. GKids already has the theatrical rights to those films.

It would be great if Disney could at least pass home video rights for Only Yesterday and Ocean Waves to GKIDS, so we could finally see these films released in North America on home video. I get the feeling that this might be a possibility, because I'd emailed GKIDS previously asking this very thing. The response I got was "While I love both films, I'm afraid there's not much in the way of home video news at this time." The "at this time" has me hopeful.

I'm going to wait to see how the English dub and Blu-ray release of From Up on Poppy Hill turn out before I worry, but I do already have The Secret of Kells on Blu-ray from GKIDS and the picture quality is excellent.

I just hope that a Blu-ray release happens; GKIDS cancelled the Blu-ray release of Mia and the Migoo and only released the film on DVD. I guess it all depends on how well From Up on Poppy Hill does in theaters.

[Sotiris]

I just hope that a Blu-ray release happens; GKIDS cancelled the Blu-ray release of Mia and the Migoo and only released the film on DVD. I guess it all depends on how well From Up on Poppy Hill does in theaters.

Either GKids doesn't own the home video rights to their titles or they licence their titles to other distribution companies.

• Azur & Asmar was released by The Weinstein Company.
• The Secret of Kells was released by New Video.
• Summer Wars was released by Funimation.
• Mia & the Migoo was released by Entertainment One.
• Chico & Rita was released by New Video.
• A Cat in Paris was released by New Video.

[Polizzi]

I just hope that a Blu-ray release happens; GKIDS cancelled the Blu-ray release of Mia and the Migoo and only released the film on DVD. I guess it all depends on how well From Up on Poppy Hill does in theaters.

Either GKids doesn't own the home video rights to their titles or they licence their titles to other distribution companies.

• Azur & Asmar was released by The Weinstein Company.
• The Secret of Kells was released by New Video.
• Summer Wars was released by Funimation.
• Mia & the Migoo was released by Entertainment One.
• Chico & Rita was released by New Video.
• A Cat in Paris was released by New Video.

Summer Wars is also released by Warner Bros. I saw their intro before the movie that I've watched on DVD.

[Sotiris]

GKIDS to Distribute Studio Ghibli’s Grave of the Fireflies
http://www.awn.com/news/films/gkids-dis ... -fireflies

Now GKids has the theatrical rights for the entire Ghibli catalogue in North America but has home video rights only for From Up on Poppy Hill.

[ajmrowland]

that wink says that there also doing the theatrical distribution for that film

[Sotiris]

That link says that there also doing the theatrical distribution for that film.

Yes, it may sounded ambiguous but what I meant was that they have home video rights to only one Ghibli film so far, and that is From Up on Poppy Hill.

[ajmrowland]

oh well that makes sense since it's so far the only knew film made since the Disney deal ended

[Sotiris]

GKids has acquired all North American rights to The Tale of The Princess Kaguya.

GKIDS announced today that they have entered into a distribution agreement with Studio Ghibli for the North American rights to The Tale of The Princess Kaguya, the new film by 78-year-old director and Studio Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies, Only Yesterday, Pom Poko). GKIDS will take all of Kaguya’s theatrical, non-theatrical, home video and television rights in North America. Last year GKIDS distributed Ghibli’s From Up on Poppy Hill, which became the distributor’s first million-dollar grossing animated feature. Studio Ghibli is producing an English-language vesrion of the film. Ghibli’s Geoffrey Wexler will produce, with Frank Marshall of Kennedy/Marshall exec producing. This is the same team that handled English versions for the two previous Studio Ghibli films, The Wind Rises and From Up on Poppy Hill. The film will be released in the U.S. this fall and will be submitted for Oscar qualification.

Source: http://www.cartoonbrew.com/feature-film ... 97230.html


It looks like Disney won't continue distributing further Ghibli films. The status of the Disney/Ghibli partnership was first put into question when GKids acquired From Up on Poppy Hill. Some argued that Disney simply passed on the title because of its controversial elements or because it was a non-fantasy title. However, now that they're not picking up a title right up their alley (featuring a princess no less) appears to provide credence to the rumors that Disney is no longer willing to keep distributing Ghibli films in North America. I suspect the only reason Disney took on The Wind Rises was because it was Hayao Miyazaki's last film. Miyazaki retiring from feature film-making (as well as the poor financial reception of The Wind Rises in the U.S.) must have provided Disney with additional incentives to end their partnership with Ghibli.

Still, Disney not distributing The Tale of The Princess Kaguya seems a bit odd considering that in January director Isao Takahata traveled to the U.S. to screen his film at Pixar with Lasseter praising the film on camera.

On a related note, I just discovered that Disney still holds the home video rights to Princess Mononoke. When Disney sold Miramax and its entire library, I thought that would apply to Princess Mononoke too. But evidently, it doesn't. Disney still has a webpage dedicated to the film. They even re-released it a few years ago with updated artwork featuring the new Disney/Ghibli banner.

[estefan]

Well, Disney did do a pretty terrible job of advertising The Wind Rises. It almost seemed that with Frozen still making money many months after its release and Muppets Most Wanted coming very soon, they completely forgot to promote the movie despite its Oscar nomination and notable director. Even Ponyo and Arrietty got way more of an advertising push.

On the other hand, GKIDS still lacks the marketing power of Disney and only seem to release their movies in arthouses. The only other American distributor I can see possibly picking up Studio Ghibli titles is Sony Pictures, as they also released The Triplets of Belleville, Persepolis, Waltz with Bashir and The Illusionist in North America. Though they seemed to have spent more money on their awards campaigns than on promoting the movies to paying customers.

[Disney's Divinity]

Maybe the GKids releases won't be so overpriced?

Anyway, I think it's funny they don't even want hand-drawn films from other companies under their name now. Yeah, yeah, I know that's probably not the reason they decided not to continue (unless Ghibli is the one who decided not to go with Disney anymore, which is a possibility).

[JTurner]

GKids has acquired all North American rights to The Tale of The Princess Kaguya.

GKIDS announced today that they have entered into a distribution agreement with Studio Ghibli for the North American rights to The Tale of The Princess Kaguya, the new film by 78-year-old director and Studio Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies, Only Yesterday, Pom Poko). GKIDS will take all of Kaguya’s theatrical, non-theatrical, home video and television rights in North America. Last year GKIDS distributed Ghibli’s From Up on Poppy Hill, which became the distributor’s first million-dollar grossing animated feature. Studio Ghibli is producing an English-language vesrion of the film. Ghibli’s Geoffrey Wexler will produce, with Frank Marshall of Kennedy/Marshall exec producing. This is the same team that handled English versions for the two previous Studio Ghibli films, The Wind Rises and From Up on Poppy Hill. The film will be released in the U.S. this fall and will be submitted for Oscar qualification.

Source: http://www.cartoonbrew.com/feature-film ... 97230.html


It looks like Disney won't continue distributing further Ghibli films. The status of the Disney/Ghibli partnership was first put into question when GKids acquired From Up on Poppy Hill. Some argued that Disney simply passed on the title because of its controversial elements or because it was a non-fantasy title. However, now that they're not picking up a title right up their alley (featuring a princess no less) appears to provide credence to the rumors that Disney is no longer willing to keep distributing Ghibli films in North America. I suspect the only reason Disney took on The Wind Rises was because it was Hayao Miyazaki's last film. Miyazaki retiring from feature film-making (as well as the poor financial reception of The Wind Rises in the U.S.) must have provided Disney with additional incentives to end their partnership with Ghibli.

I think we're reading too much into this. I don't think Disney was expecting The Wind Rises to be a huge film, and to be honest, I don't see how well it could have fared, financially. It lacks the fantasy appeal of Miyazaki's earlier work and is much more slow-going than the average Miyazaki film. But I don't think it means Ghibli and Disney have parted company. They still distribute the movies on BD and DVD in Japan and I haven't heard any developments of them parting company.

Perhaps if Ghibli makes a movie that catches Disney's fancy, they'll snatch it up. Considering the relationship Lasseter has with Miyazaki, I doubt it'll really end.

Anyway, I think it's funny they don't even want hand-drawn films from other companies under their name now. Yeah, yeah, I know that's probably not the reason they decided not to continue (unless Ghibli is the one who decided not to go with Disney anymore, which is a possibility).

No, both of those are unlikely outcomes. Who knows. Either way, I don't think its either one of them.

[JTurner]

Sorry for making this a double post, but HOLD ON A MINUTE. Before we assume Disney and Ghibli are going their separate ways, check out this quote I read from an article regarding Takahata's next film:

Since Miyazaki announced his retirement with The Wind Rises, Studio Ghibli has carried on with the release of co-founder Isao Takahata’s The Tale Of Princess Kaguya. Eight years in the making, the $50 million epic opened at No. 1 but has only grossed an underwhelming $13 million in Japan to date. An international release may help make up the gap a little, but journalist/critic Akihiko Reizei has expressed concerns in the Japanese edition of Newsweek that content unobjectionable at home—animated breastfeeding, a nude young girl jumping into a body of water—will make it impossible for the film to get a G rating in the United States and may offend Islamic countries. His unsolicited solution is self-censorship, i.e. creating an “international version.”

http://thedissolve.com/news/1144-joseph ... ong-the-e/

This, in my opinion, seems to be the real reason why Disney skipped this one. Remember, Disney chickened out on dubbing Only Yesterday because it features similar sexual themes (a girl going through menstruation) and Ocean Waves (because of a scene where a girl is slapped). I don't think The Wind Rises's performance in America has anything to do with it. It may be because of this issue. I don't think Disney would want to be involved in a film which features content such as this, would you? Specifically not an animated one.

[WonderNeverOz]

I just came back home from watching "When Marnie Was There" and I'm curious if disney will distribute this one or not.....

Also I wonder what action Disney will take if the rumors of Ghibli Studio shutting down turn into reality...

[taei]

I just came back home from watching "When Marnie Was There" and I'm curious if disney will distribute this one or not.....

Also I wonder what action Disney will take if the rumors of Ghibli Studio shutting down turn into reality...

What did you think of the movie?

Was there anything that could deter Disney away?