Studio Ghibli is a Japanese animation film studio whose anime style films are internationally distributed on Home Entertainment mediums by Disney in the United States.
It should be noted that only titles named on this page are distributed by Disney; Ghibli's 2011 film From Up on Poppy Hill was not distributed in the U.S. by Disney but rather by GKIDS, which currently now holds U.S. theatrical rights to all of Studio Ghibli's films, even those named below since 2011. Disney also holds the French (Released under the Buena Vista Home Entertainment name), Taiwanese and Japanese Home Media rights to the Studio Ghibli library.
Disney continued to distribute the remaining movies they owned on Home Media until 2017, when the licence expired and GKIDS took over the home media rights from Disney, releasing a full roster of reissues. The only exception to this was The Wind Rises, due to the fact GKIDS classifies it as a “Recent” film. Disney however continues to distribute the Studio Ghibli library in France, Taiwan and Japan .
Disney and Ghibli
In 1996, Tokuma Shoten, the parent company of Studio Ghibli at the time announced that Disney would distribute most of their film. This lasted until 2017, when GKIDS took over distribution for the majority of their films.
Films distributed to video by Disney
- Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
- Castle in the Sky (1986)
- My Neighbor Totoro (1988)
- Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)
- Porco Rosso (1992)
- Pom Poko (1994)
- Whisper of the Heart (1995)
- My Neighbors the Yamadas (1999)
- The Cat Returns (2002)
Films theatrically released with Disney
- Princess Mononoke (1997; distributed through Miramax Films)
- Spirited Away (2001)
- Howl's Moving Castle (2004)
- Tales from Earthsea (2006)
- Ponyo (2008)
- The Secret World of Arrietty (2010)
- The Wind Rises (2013; distributed through Touchstone Pictures)
Films exclusively released by Disney in Japan, Taiwan and France
These Studio Ghibli films were distributed (or in some cases, assisted) by Disney outside North America.
- Grave of the Fireflies (1988, Japanese DVD and Blu-Ray releases only, released by Sentai Filmworks in North America)
- Only Yesterday (1991, released by GKIDS in North America)
- Ocean Waves (1993, Japanese DVD and Blu-Ray releases only, released by GKIDS in North America)
- From Up on Poppy Hill (2011, Credited as Walt Disney Japan, released by GKIDS in North America)
- The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013, Credited as Walt Disney Japan, released by GKIDS in North America)
- When Marnie was There (2014, Credited as Walt Disney Japan, released by GKIDS in North America)
- The Red Turtle (2016, Japanese DVD and Blu-Ray releases only, copyrighted as Walt Disney Japan. released by Wild Bunch in France and Sony Pictures Classics in North America)
Trivia
- One of the studios' characters, Totoro, from My Neighbor Totoro, made a cameo in Toy Story 3 as a plush toy.
- Despite the English dub version of Princess Mononoke being distributed by Miramax Films (which was owned by Disney at the time it came out), it was not one of the films that was sold alongside the Miramax library, as Disney still retains Home Entertainment rights of the film due to Disney holding rights to the 16 Ghibli films they distributed.
- The TV movie Ocean Waves was also part of the Disney deal, but Disney never released the film onto DVD and it was eventually released in North America by GKIDS in December 2016.
