Theatrical and home media rights Japan In Japan, most of the company's films are distributed by
Toho theatrically, except for
Castle in the Sky, ''
Kiki's Delivery Service (which were distributed by Toei Company along with Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind) and My Neighbors the Yamadas'', which was distributed by
Shochiku. For home media, a majority of Studio Ghibli releases are distributed by
Walt Disney Studios Japan.
Pony Canyon occasionally releases Ghibli documentaries on home media, and distributes rental versions of Ghibli's movies under a deal with Disney. Pony Canyon also fully distributed the standalone version of
Earwig and the Witch on home media. Before the Disney deal, Tokuma Shoten released Ghibli movies themselves through their "Animage Video" imprint, as well as all
LaserDisc releases of the movies, as the Disney deal did not include that format.
International After purchasing the global distribution rights from World Film Corporation,
Manson International and Showmen, Inc. produced a 95-minute English dub of
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, titled
Warriors of the Wind, which was released theatrically in the United States by
New World Pictures on June 14, 1985, followed by a VHS release in December 1985. The voice actors and actresses were not credited, and the film was
heavily edited to give it a faster pace. The film received a PG rating just like Disney's later English dub. By removing several of the longer dialogue scenes, some of the environmentalist themes were simplified as was the main subplot of the Ohmu, altered to remove Nausicaä's childhood connection to them. Most of the characters' names were changed, including the titular character who became Princess Zandra. The North American poster and VHS cover featured a cadre of male characters who are not in the film, riding the resurrected Giant Warrior—including a still-living Warrior shown briefly in a flashback. Overall, approximately 22 minutes was cut for North American release. In the late 1980s, an English dub of
Castle in the Sky was produced for international
Japan Airlines flights at the request of Tokuma Shoten. The
Castle dub was briefly screened in the United States by
Streamline Pictures.
Carl Macek, the head of Streamline, was disappointed with this dub, deeming it "adequate, but clumsy". Following this, Tokuma allowed Streamline to dub their future acquisitions
My Neighbor Totoro and ''
Kiki's Delivery Service. In April 1993, Troma Films, under their 50th St. Films banner, distributed the Totoro
dub as a theatrical release, and the dub was later released on both VHS and DVD by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. In the early 1990s, an English dub of Porco Rosso was produced by Ward Sexton in Japan, again for international Japan Airlines flights. The original dubs can be seen on the 1996 Ghibli ga Ippai Laserdisc set, the initial copies for the Japanese DVD releases of Totoro
, Laputa
and Porco'', and Fox's VHS and DVD releases of
Totoro. In 1996, after careful negotiations with major film studios, which included
Warner Bros. and
20th Century Fox,
Walt Disney Studios acquired worldwide distribution rights to the Studio Ghibli library, with Disney redubbing all previously dubbed films. In addition, Walt Disney Studios Japan agreed to contribute 10% of the funding for all future releases, starting with
My Neighbors the Yamadas, in exchange for
right of first refusal regarding international distribution. The September 1998 VHS release of ''Kiki's Delivery Service'' in the United States would prove to be a major success for Studio Ghilbli. Disney and Ghibli have also selectively chosen not to promote and record an English-dubbed version for films and works deemed less internationally marketable, including some of Takahata's more developmental and obscure pieces. Although the Studio has a "No cuts" policy in terms of international versions and dubs, this does not apply to promotional materials, such as posters, for which the filmmakers collaborate with Disney to produce cultural appropriate international versions. The Studio has not shied away from rebranding on the international stage in order to convey tweaked promotional imagery for different cultural norms. One example of these tweaks to international promotional materials can be seen between the Japanese and English versions of the movie poster for
Spirited Away (2001). For American and other English-speaking audiences, the name of the film was changed from the Japanese version, which directly translates roughly to, "The Disappearance of Chihiro and Sen", to
Spirited Away to suggest more mystical, otherworldly themes, since the direct Japanese translation could be taken to mean that Chihiro/Sen disappeared due to some more dangerous reason. On the American movie poster, more pictures of spirits from the film were added to the background to further pique the viewer's interest with more supernatural themes, creating an association between the film's spirits and what most American people would think of as "ghosts". For the Japanese poster, there are fewer spirits as the Japanese Shinto religion normalizes the existence of spirits, so less emphasis is needed to convey the importance of non-human spirits. Also, Disney enlarged the "Studio Ghibli" and "Hayao Miyazaki" labels on the poster, helping to bring greater awareness to the studio through the success of
Spirited Away. In 2011,
GKIDS acquired the North American theatrical distribution rights of the aforementioned Ghibli films, with
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment retaining the home video rights. Afterwards, in 2013, GKIDS acquired the US and Canadian distribution rights to
From Up on Poppy Hill. The film, which Disney passed on to GKIDS due to dealing with potential incest, marked the first time since 1996 that Disney handed a Studio Ghibli film off to another distributor. Afterwards, GKIDS would go on to distribute the films Disney found to be too mature or unmarketable for American audiences:
Only Yesterday,
Ocean Waves,
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya and
When Marnie Was There. In July 2017, Disney relinquished its home video rights (with the exception of
The Wind Rises, which remained with Disney until 2020 due to a distribution clause) to GKIDS, which handles all theatrical and home media distribution of Ghibli films in North America along with ''
Mary and the Witch's Flower''. Outside Asia (including Japan) and North America since 2003, Goodfellas (a former subsidiary of
Wild Bunch, formerly known as Wild Bunch International) has been Studio Ghibli's international sales holder. Individual rights to Ghibli's films are held by various third parties, including Elysian Film Group and
Anonymous Content (United Kingdom and Ireland), Wild Bunch (France and Belgium),
Leonine (Germany),
Gutek Film (Poland),
Lucky Red (Italy),
Vértigo Films (Spain),
Crunchyroll Store Australia (Australia and New Zealand) and
Encore Films/
mm2 Entertainment (Southeast Asia). Notably,
The Secret World of Arrietty received a second dub exclusive to the United Kingdom, produced by StudioCanal UK, likely due to the film's origins being from
Mary Norton's British novel
The Borrowers. Disney formerly held international sales rights until they were sold off to Goodfellas (then Wild Bunch) in 2003. Disney kept the French distribution rights to Ghibli's library until September 2020, when it had expired and transitioned off to Wild Bunch. Since 2021,
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment serves as the home media distributor of Studio Ghibli's catalog via its distribution deal with Wild Bunch through the Wild Side Vidéo label.
Streaming rights Prior to 2019, Studio Ghibli opted not to make its films available digitally, feeling that physical media and theatrical events like
GKIDS'
Studio Ghibli Fest would work more towards their goal of mindful care and curation for their films. Disney had previously lobbied for a streaming deal with Ghibli during their distribution tenure, but such attempts were never materialized. On October 17, 2019,
Warner Bros. Discovery's
HBO Max announced it had acquired exclusive streaming rights to Studio Ghibli's catalogue in the United States as part of a deal with
GKIDS; these films were available when the service launched in May 2020. On January 20, 2020, it was announced that
Netflix acquired the exclusive streaming rights to this catalogue in all regions where it operates except for the United States (in which Netflix does have streaming rights to
The Castle of Cagliostro and ''
Mary and the Witch's Flower''), as part of a deal with Ghibli's international sales rights partner
Wild Bunch. Seven of twenty-one films in the studio's catalogue were released on February 1, 2020, with the others following on March 1 and April 1. Netflix then struck a separate deal with GKIDS for streaming rights in Canada which was announced on June 22, and came into effect on June 25 for most films. As of 2024, no streaming rights deals have yet been announced for Studio Ghibli's home country of Japan, nor for markets such as China where neither Netflix nor HBO Max is available.
Grave of the Fireflies Most of the above deals exclude
Grave of the Fireflies; unlike most of the other films, which were published by
Tokuma Shoten,
Grave of the Fireflies was produced and is owned by
Shinchosha, which also had published the short story it was based on, and as such, fell into different rights holdings.
Madman Entertainment released the film in Australia and New Zealand. It was released on VHS in North America by
Central Park Media in a subtitled form on June 2, 1993. They later released the film with an English dub on VHS on September 1, 1998 (the same day Disney released ''
Kiki's Delivery Service'' in North America) and an all-Regions DVD (which also included the original Japanese with English subtitles) on October 7 the same year. It was later released on a two-disc DVD set (which once again included both the English dub and the original Japanese with English subtitles as well as the film's storyboards with the second disc containing more extensive Bonus Features) on October 8, 2002. It was released by Central Park Media one last time on December 7, 2004. Following the May 2009 bankruptcy and liquidation of Central Park Media,
ADV Films re-acquired the rights to the film from Central Park Media and re-released on DVD on July 7, 2009. Following the September 1, 2009 shutdown and re-branding of ADV, their successor,
Sentai Filmworks, rescued the film and released a remastered DVD on March 6, 2012. A
Blu-ray edition was released on November 20, 2012, featuring an all-new English dub produced by
Seraphim Digital, along with a digital release that same year.
Netflix acquired the distribution rights to the film in 2024 and began featuring it for digital streaming outside of Japan on September 16, 2024. GKIDS re-acquired the rights to the film from Sentai Filmworks and re-released on Blu-ray and DVD on July 8, 2025, under a new deal with Studio Ghibli (which has the original Japanese version and the 1998 and 2012 English dubs). In August 2025,
Anime Limited acquired the British and Irish distribution rights to the films following the expiration of the StudioCanal deal, and announced they would re-release the film theatrically and on Blu-Ray in 2026. == Selected works ==