Disney Loses Theatrical Rights to Ghibli Films

[Sotiris]

GKids has struck a deal with Studio Ghibli to handle North American theatrical and non-theatrical distribution of the studio's 13 animated titles, including Hayao Miyazaki's "Princess Mononoke," "My Neighbor Totoro," "Castle in the Sky" and "Spirited Away." The films will be distributed both subtitled and English dubbed. Disney will retain the home video rights.

Eric Beckman, GKids founder and president, told Variety that they are "excited and deeply honored to be working with Studio Ghibli." Beckman said "Nausicaa," "Castle in the Sky," "Spirited Away" and "Totoro" are among his favorite movies, "and they played an early role in my decision to launch GKids."

GKids will kick off the distribution with the 10-year and 25-year anniversary screenings of "Spirited Away" and "Castle in the Sky" respectively at the New York Film Festival. New York's IFC Center will also feature a Studio Ghibli retrospective Dec. 16-Jan. 12, with additional retrospectives to be held in the U.S. and Canada during the first half of 2012.

Finally, GKids is planning limited releases of select Ghibli films, some of which have never before seen U.S. theatrical distribution, beginning in late 2012.

Source: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118042372?refCatId=13

[MJW]

This, coupled with the fact that the Blu-ray releases are slow as molasses in North America, kind of shows that Disney is losing interest/faith in the Ghibli library, which is horrible news for fans. If you live in a country where Disney doesn't handle the home video releases of Ghibli films, consider yourself lucky.

By the end of this year, 7 Ghibli titles will be available on Blu-ray in Japan, and Disney will have made available 2 of them in the US. I understand that there is a bit of delay between the Japanese releases and the rest of the world to prevent reverse importing, but other countries already have Laputa: Castle in the Sky, My Neighbors the Yamadas, and Whisper of the heart. We haven't seen anything since Nausicaä in March 2011 and probably won't until next February when Arrietty premieres theatrically.

[The_Iceflash]

meh. no big loss.

[Heil Donald Duck]

meh. no big loss.

Jeb, not intrested in anyting that comes from Japan. And russing to theaters everytime something animated comes out. No thanks you can save that money and spend it on DVD/blu-ray insteed.

[dvdjunkie]

I agree. No big loss!!

[estefan]

Personally, I think it's a shame. If The Secret of Kells is any indication, GKids is terrible at marketing. At least Disney gave Ponyo a wide release and actually marketed the thing. Not to mention their dubs have been fantastic, in my opinion.

[FigmentJedi]

Personally, I think it's a shame. If The Secret of Kells is any indication, GKids is terrible at marketing.

No, it's because GKids doesn't have Disney levels of money to get a mass release going.

[PatrickvD]

Disney never handled the films here in The Netherlands and I would never even dare to watch a dubbed version of a studio Ghibli film. They're fine in Japanese as they were meant to be seen anyway.

So, no big loss.

[Dr Frankenollie]

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[UmbrellaFish]

Do we know if Disney has lost theatrical rights to future Ghibli productions, however? The article seems vague. To me, it sounds like Gkids has just been granted the rights to past features for theatrical reissues.

[Disney's Divinity]

Whilst it probably won't have a large effect on Disney, it might have one on Studio Ghibli; after all, the English dubs the likes of John Lasseter organised for their films were terrific.

That's what I was thinking, too. Disney probably pulls in a wider range of voice talent than GKids will be able to.

Not really a "loss," but it is shame considering most of the Ghibli films are pretty amazing.

[ajmrowland]

Do we know if Disney has lost theatrical rights to future Ghibli productions, however? The article seems vague. To me, it sounds like Gkids has just been granted the rights to past features for theatrical reissues.

that might be a good point, or just wishful thinking.

[Barbossa]

Well that sucks 'cause now I won't be able to get DMR points for my ticket stubs.

[MJW]

From what I understand, Disney still has rights to future films. The Ghibli Blog reported that "according to GKids, 13 studio films, 1984-2002, are included in the deal."

[Dr Frankenollie]

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[milojthatch]

I'm putting it on record, not a fan of Anime and I never got why Disney had anything to do with Ghibli in the first place, or Lassieter's interest with them. That said, if I HAD to watch an Anime, it's going to be a Ghibli film. The only Anime I kind of like is one of their films (Howls Moving Castle) and I'm aware how much of a following they have. They really are the Disney of Japan.

So I say no big loss, but realize that is only if you are not a Ghibli fan. Then, it's hard to say. It's at least something to keep an eye on.

Well that sucks 'cause now I won't be able to get DMR points for my ticket stubs.

But, you will still get points for DVD/ Blu-ray releases.

[ajmrowland]

so, if it's only theatrical releases for catalog titles, that's not too bad.

[TheSequelOfDisney]

so, if it's only theatrical releases for catalog titles, that's not too bad.

Yeah, I was kind of upset at first, but it seems that Disney is still going to dub the upcoming films, release them theatrically (since it's only the first 13 films) and distribute them on Blu-ray/DVD. So I guess it isn't as bad as it first appeared to be.

[Heartless]

Will this affect Disney releasing the catalog titles on DVD/Bluray?

[Hercules]

Will this affect Disney releasing the catalog titles on DVD/Bluray?

No, it states in the article that Disney still owns the home video rights. They just won't be the ones putting them in theaters.