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HBO Max: first details on the new streaming service
by Luca Fontana
For the first time in digital format: Studio Ghibli to be shown on HBO Max in 2020
18.10.2019
Translation: machine translated
Studio Ghibli films such as "Castle in the Sky" and "Princess Mononoke" will soon be available for the first time in digital format. But only on HBO Max and only in the American version.
Fans of quality animated films have every reason to rejoice: Studio Ghibli's entire catalogue will be available digitally and via streaming for the very first time, as Warner Bros. has announced. HBO Max, the Hollywood studio's forthcoming streaming platform, has acquired exclusive rights. However, the films will only be available in American versions.
This announcement is all the more surprising given that not even 24 hours earlier a spokesperson for GKids had promised to online magazine Polygon that Studio Ghibli's films would never be offered on streaming platforms.
The cinema, the only way to truly appreciate these films?
The spokesman for GKids, the independent animated film specialist that distributes Studio Ghibli's works in North America, had this to say:
Studio Ghibli will never offer its films digitally, either for download or streaming, anywhere in the world. It believes that presentation plays a fundamental role in the enjoyment of its films, including the opportunity to see them with others in a cinema.
Until now, Studio Ghibli films such as "Castle in the Sky", "My Neighbour Totoro", "Chihiro's Journey" and "Princess Mononoke" could only be viewed on physical supports or at particular events. Streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime or Hulu were the losers.
This is no coincidence: Hayao Miyazaki, director and creator of Studio Ghibli's most famous films, has a difficult relationship with Hollywood. In the past, some of his films have had their plots cut entirely to make them more appealing to a wide American audience. This is notably the case with "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind", Miyazaki's first major hit released in 1984.
A distribution deal signed with Disney in 1996 helped ease relations, although the big-eared group only refrained from touching Studio Ghibli films when Miyazaki himself was directing.
Since 2017, Gkids has had exclusive distribution rights, at least in North America. The spokesperson's statements emphasising presentation and appreciation were primarily intended not to further poison the tumultuous relationship between Hayao Miyazaki and Hollywood. It is doubtful that he was aware of the forthcoming deal between Studio Ghibli and Warner Bros.
platform HBO Max.
HBO Max will launch in spring 2020 in the US. As for the international launch, we'll have to wait until at least 2021. The good news is that you won't have to wait that long for upcoming cinema news. If you want to be kept up to date, click on the "Follow the author" button.
Luca Fontana
Senior Editor
Luca.Fontana@digitecgalaxus.chI write about technology as if it were cinema, and about films as if they were real life. Between bits and blockbusters, I’m after stories that move people, not just generate clicks. And yes – sometimes I listen to film scores louder than I probably should.
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