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GKIDS Licenses Studio Ghibli's Catalog for Blu-ray/DVD Release (Updated)

GKIDS announced on Monday that it has licensed most of Studio Ghibli's catalog for Blu-ray Disc and DVD distribution in North America. The company will re-release all the titles on Blu-ray Disc and DVD, starting with Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Kiki's Delivery Service, My Neighbor Totoro, Ponyo, and Princess Mononoke on October 21, followed by Castle in the Sky and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind on October 31 and My Neighbors the Yamadas in early 2018.

Ghibli will provide the English subtitles for the Japanese audio on all the releases, and the discs will also have separate French subtitles and English SDH subtitles for the dubs.

GKIDS has handled theatrical rights for Studio Ghibli films since 2010, and most recently began a partnership with Fathom Events to screen older Studio Ghibli films in theaters. Its ongoing "Studio Ghibli Fest" series began with My Neighbor Totoro last month, and the next will be Kiki's Delivery Service on July 23 and 24. The company has previously released From Up On Poppy Hill, Only Yesterday, Ocean Waves, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, and When Marnie Was There on home video.

Tokuma Shoten and Walt Disney previously signed an international distribution deal for almost every Ghibli feature film in 1996. (The deal left out Ocean Waves and Grave of the Fireflies, though the latter was released by Central Park Media and later ADV Films.) The most recent film Disney released in North America was The Wind Rises in 2014. Disney also released director Hayao Miyazaki's nine Ghibli films, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, and Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro (sub-licensed from Discotek Media) on its "The Collected Works of Hayao Miyazaki" Blu-ray box set in 2015.

Source: Variety (Dave McNary)

Update: GKIDS clarified that it has that some Studio Ghibli titles are not included. Grave of the Fireflies will remain with its current distributor, as Ghibli does not represent the film in the United States. The Wind Rises is also excluded because it is new. Furthermore, GKIDS does not plan to re-release the titles it has already released itself.