Here’s a little win for Good Things fans who also subscribe to Max: The Studio Ghibli Collection will continue to stream for the foreseeable future.
Over the past year, media group Warner Bros. Discovery has become a symbol of ruthless restructuring in an already turbulent entertainment landscape. Under CEO David Zaslav, the company has buried films like Warner Bros Batgirl And Coyote vs Acme for Tax purposeslicensed classic HBO content to Netflix and collaborated with Disney and Fox on its creation a sports streaming servicegutted (then re-roofed) Turner classic, has delisted indie games on Steam as the company openly shifts its gaming division to a free-to-play strategy, and is betting all on James Gunn to save the DC film and TV properties. The decisions ruffled artists’ feathers and cast a cloud over the brand’s many studios while the future remained frustratingly unclear.
But someone above really loves Hayao Miyazaki’s films. They were deemed important enough to block the Max service.
Max and GKIDS, one of the major animation distributors operating today, made the announcement on Tuesday the 2020 deal which brought the Studio Ghibli library to streaming for the first time – including all of master Hayao Miyazaki’s films – has been re-added as part of a “multi-year agreement”. (A representative for Max declined to provide details of the deal with Polygon.) Films like My neighbor Totoro, Magically gone, kiki’s delivery serviceAnd The story of Princess Kaguya were all part of the original, unprecedented deal four years ago that brought the collection to streaming for the first time alongside the launch of the HBO Max service. Time has passed, mergers have taken place, and rebranding efforts have turned HBO Max into just Max, but the good news is that the Ghibli films are here to stay – and will remain in the streaming space until at least 2025.
The announcement also notes that Miyazaki’s Oscar-winning film The Boy and the Heron is included in the deal and will premiere on Max “later this year.” Positioned as Miyazaki’s final film, The Boy and the Heron Earlier this month, he won a big win at the 96th Academy Awards, although the director wasn’t there to accept the award. His longtime producer and Ghibli co-founder Toshio Suzuki later issued this statement in response to the win, delivered via a translator backstage at the Oscars.
“It was really difficult to complete this project,” he wrote. “I am very grateful that the work that emerged after overcoming these difficulties has been embraced and received this recognition by so many people around the world.” Both Hayao Miyazaki and I have aged significantly. I am grateful to receive such an honor at my age. And I take this as a message to continue our work and work even harder in the future. Thank you.”
For more on Studio Ghibli’s legacy, check out our guide to the studio’s extensive work.
