The Walt Disney Company, often known simply as Disney, is the second largest media and entertainment conglomerate in the world (just behind Comcast and Warner Bros. Discovery), known for its family-friendly products. Founded in 1923, by brothers Walt and Roy Disney as an animation studio, it has become one of the biggest Hollywood studios, owner and licensor of eleven theme parks, a cruise ship line, several television networks (including ABC and ESPN), Pixar Animation Studios, Lucasfilm Ltd., and Marvel Entertainment.
"Ocean Waves" was not included, probably because it was a film made specifically for television. Disney was unable to license "Grave of the Fireflies" due to the fact the film was not produced by parent company Tokuma Shoten, but by Shinchosha, the publisher of the original novel. Disney Japan however do own the rights to both films in Japan.
History[]
In August 1996, Tokuma Shoten, the parent company of Studio Ghibli at the time announced that Disney would distribute the Studio Ghibli library worldwide, and that Disney also had the rights to distribute "Princess Mononoke" theatrically outside Japan. Disney would go on to dub and distribute most Studio Ghibli films as well as re-dub the films that were dubbed prior to the Disney/Tokuma deal.
In Japan, Buena Vista Home Entertainment Japan (now Walt Disney Studios Japan) had the rights to distribute Studio Ghibli products for home media, which Tokuma Communications previously self-distributed. This partnership continues to this very day.
By the 2000s, other foreign companies would acquire the Studio Ghibli rights in their own countries. The main international sales rights were sold to German-based company Wild Bunch, who would allow other companies to release the library in the country they traded in. Disney/Buena Vista remained the distributor for the films in France, Taiwan and the United States.
In 2011, Disney sold the North American theatrical rights to the Studio Ghibli catalogue to New York-based distributor GKIDS as they felt that they no longer needed them. GKIDS has re-released the films in cinemas a numerous amount of times, more so then Disney had ever done. In 2013, Disney US refused to distribute Studio Ghibli's then recent film "From Up on Poppy Hill" (they however still distributed the film in Taiwan, France and Japan home media though) and instead sold the film to GKIDS for distribution both theatrically and on home media (through Cinedigm). This as the first Studio Ghibli Movie since Princess Mononoke not released as a Disney product. Disney however distributed The Wind Rises though their Touchstone Pictures Label, which was the last Studio Ghibli film released through Disney in the US.
Other Studio Ghibli films, like The "The Tale of the Princess Kaguya", "When Marnie Was There", "Only Yesterday" and "Ocean Waves" were also distributed through GKIDS, with Universal Pictures Home Entertainment handling distribution. In 2017, GKIDS fully took over distribution of the Studio Ghibli catalogue in the United States with the acceptation of "Grave of the Fireflies" (As it's not directly a Studio Ghibli film in many countries, as the rights to the film remain with the book's publisher and not Tokuma) and "The Wind Rises" (As the movie is still fairly recent). GKIDS have since re-released all the Studio Ghibli films on DVD and Blu-Ray under their branding, through Shout! Factory. In 2018, GKIDS acquired the theatrical rights to "Grave of the Fireflies", but the home media rights still remain within Sentai Filmworks.
On September 11, 2020, Wild Bunch, Ghibli's International sales holder and had already held distribution rights to the catalog in Belgium, announced that their partnership with Walt Disney Studios France had expired on September 2nd, and from that day onwards, they would take over distribution of Studio Ghibli's movies in the country. The last Studio Ghibli products released by Disney in France had been a set of Futurepak releases, released in October 2019. In Early 2021, Wild Bunch released Ghibli's movies on digital download and through their video subsidiary Wild Side Video, they have began reissuing them on DVD and Blu-Ray beginning in July 2021. These releases feature different covers than the original Disney releases.
The Taiwanese rights to Ghibli's Catalogue went exclusively to Deltamac in 2020 following Disney's exit from the home media industry in the country, with their single-disc Blu-Ray re-releases of certain Ghibli films lacking any mention of Disney or Buena Vista on the back of the packaging. It is unknown if it is the same in China, where Excel Video distributes releases over there.
As of 2020, Walt Disney Studios Japan remains the exclusive Japanese distributor of Ghibli's library on Home Media, with some exceptions like the DVD and Blu-Ray releases of Earwig and the Witch, which will be released through Pony Canyon.
Studio Ghibli Movies dubbed and distributed by Disney[]
- Princess Mononoke
- Castle in the Sky (re-dubbed)
- Kiki's Delivery Service (re-dubbed)
- Spirited Away
- Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (re-dubbed to its proper length)
- Porco Rosso (re-dubbed)
- The Cat Returns
- Pom Poko
- My Neighbors the Yamadas
- My Neighbor Totoro (re-dubbed)
- Whisper of the Heart
- Howl's Moving Castle
- Ponyo (dubbed by The Kennedy/Marshal Company for Disney)
- Tales from Earthsea
- The Secret World of Arrietty (dubbed by The Kennedy/Marshal Company for Disney)
- The Wind Rises (dubbed by The Kennedy/Marshal Company for Disney)
Films in which Disney is credited[]
As Buena Vista Home Entertainment[]
- My Neighbors the Yamadas (1999)
- Spirited Away (2001)
- The Cat Returns (2002)
- Howl's Moving Castle (2004)
- Tales from Earthsea (2006)
- Ponyo (2008)
As Walt Disney Japan[]
- The Secret World of Arrietty (2010)
- From Up on Poppy Hill (2011)
- The Wind Rises (2013)
- The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013)
- When Marnie Was There (2014)
- The Red Turtle (2016, only credited on back of Japanese cover)
External links[]
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