HBO MAX announced their new platform last year, and since then we’ve been waiting to see what kind of content they will include. Lucky for us they struck a deal with Hayao Miyazaki, and have exclusive rights to stream the Ghibli library in America.
So that means that we will be able to get to watch many of our favorites without having to hunt for that blu-ray. 21 titles will be available to stream on HBO Max’s launch, which means next Wednesday, we can have a Ghibli-a-Thon!
The 21 titles that will be available are:
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
The Wind Rises
And that’s just the first round of movies to be available on the service. Studio Ghibli has around 42 movies with more coming out in the future. The deal that they signed gave them streaming rights to all of them.
When it was announced that the Ghibli library would be included on HBO Max many people were surprised. Previously when the Ghibli movies were available in America it was because Hayao Miyazaki had made a deal with Disney to distribute. But then quickly became unhappy in the way they handled it. Then GKIDS took over distribution in America while Disney still held distribution rights in France and Italy.
Suzuki signed the deal with HBO Max because he was a fan of Warner Bros.
“Whenever I watch a Clint Eastwood film it says ‘Warner Bros…So, I’ve always wanted to work with Warner Bros. for a long time. The person in charge at GKIDS [CEO Eric Beckman] was very excited about this offer from HBO Max, especially them being the last to approach us. They sounded very enthusiastic and we felt that these guys would really appreciate our films and do great work with it.”
Toshio Suzuki, producer and former President of Studio Ghibli
HBO MAX launches on May 27th, 2020.
