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HBO Max Acquires U.S. Streaming Rights To Studio Ghibli Library
- Thread starter Spectromixer
- Start date
No. HBO Max is a separate service that will have all the HBO content, in addition to WarnerMedia stuff like Fresh Prince, Friends, Doom Patrol, etc. At least in the U.S.
Not really. Plus it sounds pretty expensive. I might do one month subs whenever I go on Ghibli binges, even though I have most of their stuff on Blu Ray.
Since the beginning of 2017, I have been with Amazon Prime and Netflix.
Yes, they both have good content, and the variety of the two compliment each other very well however, I am ready to move onto Disney+ at Christmastime ... 🎄
With this recent news of Studio Ghibli hopping onto the HBO Max service, I feel compelled to let both my Netflix and Amazon Prime subscription lapse, which I believe is before the end of this year, then I shall add HBO Max alongside Disney+ for the best of both worlds.
Quite excited to try two brand new services!
I mean it is roughly the same price as Netflix, and I think there is more meat to the content with Warner Media.
Castle of Cagliostro is on Netflix.
Yep, whenever an anime license expires, the dub production ends up reverting back to the anime's parent company. So unless they go out of their way to have the series redubbed (like what was done with Evangelion on Netflix) it's going to be the previous dub.
I don't see any Korean or Asian dramas so hbo max is a pass for me. The studio ghibli library is a good get for them.
It's gonna be roughly the same price for better content. Are you aware of Warner's catalogue?
Yeah. The likely addition of a bunch of classic films in the catalogue as well is super enticing
Yeah, I was talking specifically about this deal. I wonder if it's not fully under Ghibli control since it was distributed by Toho or something? Even though it's considered part of the Ghibli "canon."
From Up on Poppy Hill was also a GKIDS release. I'm happy that Disney gave Ghibli the exposure to the west they deserved, but the way they handled the home video releases was fairly shitty. It seems like once the prestige ran out they really stopped giving a shit.
Emily was just making a general list of things it would include, it wasn't comprehensive. There's other stuff already announced she didn't list. And this very announcement about Ghibli is brand new. HBO Max doesn't launch until April, there is still a lot of time for them to announce more, and I am sure they will. Stuff like what kind of International content will be there (like Korean/Asian dramas) would definitely be part of later announcements since they're more niche.
It's not a Ghibli film. It's just included by a lot of people because it's the first feature Miyazaki directed.
Grave of the Fireflies also has a different license than the rest of Ghibli's catalog, and since it's so tonally different from the rest of their movies it's often not licensed along with them as a result. That's why these two aren't there.
Yes, I think that is generally what most people will do. Though I think most people will just have Amazon as well anyways due to the benefits Prime gives you apart from the "Prime Video" service. Netflix is in the most trouble considering they don't have nearly as deep pockets as the competitors, or the kinda of library Disney and AT&T do.
Yeah, it's technically under TMS umbrella (the rights holders to the Lupin franchise as a whole), so in the west it's Discotek who holds the license to it.
There's two films that work differently from the rest of Ghibli catalog:
-Cagliostro, of course, as despite how much Ghibli has taken ownership of it over the years, is still not their film in a legal manner, as even they license it for their releases in Japan. While annoying for folks that want an all-in-one options for the Ghibli catalog, the fact that it is streaming at all is a good thing and a sign that it may one day be possible for it to show up on HBO Max.
-Grave of the Fireflies is the one that has the more complicated rights issues. It is very much a Studio Ghibli film from start to finish, but it was co-produced with Shinchosa, the company that had the film rights to the book and were the ones that hired Ghibli to work on the film. It's their call to license it out as they see fit, but as a result, it can't be simply lumped in whenever the rights to the catalog are on offer. Pointedly, it was never touched by Disney when they had control of the catalog and its actually changed many hands over the years, to where it resides today with Sentai Filmworks.
Hey this is good info and I didn't have all the clarity that I needed on those! Thank you for that. I know that in Japan, they released both films under their "Ghibli ga Ippai" umbrella, and Grave of the Fireflies even played as a double feature with Totoro--but aside from knowing there seemed to be some rights quirks with these two I didn't know the details and that Ghibli was commissioned to do GOTF. So... again, thanks for the really informative post.
No worries. The theatrical rights are amusingly easier to explain (GKIDS has everything besides Cagliostro, whose rights are with Eleven Arts in the US), but that's arguably never been the real prize for the major companies as the theatrical rights for older films is not where the money is, so to speak.
I have all of the Ghibli films on Blu-ray.. sometimes multiple times over and all of the older ones on DVD as well (Totoro on DVD twice, lol) but I never actually watch anything physically these days so this is very exciting.
I'm curious if GKIDS were even involved in this negotiation to be honest.
I'm curious if GKIDS were even involved in this negotiation to be honest.
First child coming Spring 2020. Ghibli films will probably be the first movies we watch together. I kind of want to have a girl just to show them the female positive Ghibli movies... Though obviously it can be good for a boy to learn as well!
I kind of wish there was just a way to buy these digitally though. I don't own a blu-ray player and don't really want to buy one just for Ghibli movies, so I guess I'll do HBO every now and then.
I kind of wish there was just a way to buy these digitally though. I don't own a blu-ray player and don't really want to buy one just for Ghibli movies, so I guess I'll do HBO every now and then.
You think most people are cancelling Netflix? Doubt it, at least in the US.
Eventually, yeah, I do. Not next year. Or the year after that. But in 5 years or so? I don't see how Netflix competes with what its competitors are dishing out. Of course, we'll see. HBO MAX specifically is the biggest threat to Netflix as it is the same kind of service (one that encompasses "everything") while also having an giant backlog of film and television, including major franchises, and has a much higher budget across the board going into its originals.
I don't see any reason why all of that would not be on HBO MAX. If (and it's a big if) DC Universe continues to exist by itself, it would just be for people who only want the DC content. But in theory all of that content should also be on MAX, which should have all of the content from all of AT&T's various channels.
Awesome thanks, i'll certainly be looking out for the service to be released.
Hopefully this means they'll be available for purchase digitally sometime in the near future as well. I stopped buying Ghibli blu-rays once I made the pivot to only buying blu-ray/digital combos so it would be nice to finally get to own the whole library both physically and digitally.
I don't think so. As far as I'm aware HBO MAX is just going to be a television and film platform. I hadn't thought about that aspect, but I guess it will probably stick around as a comics platform like how Marvel has Unlimited.
I can't imagine a situation where Ghibli doesn't know what they're worth. They didn't hold off for this long to settle for scraps.
How do people who love these movies not have a collection of them already?
It is astounding to me how many people will spend thousands of dollars on streaming services in the next few years instead of spending a few hundred on Ghibli and Friends and Seinfeld and The Office etc. This is all legacy content that you can collect. That people will marry streaming services for legacy material is so bizarre.
It is astounding to me how many people will spend thousands of dollars on streaming services in the next few years instead of spending a few hundred on Ghibli and Friends and Seinfeld and The Office etc. This is all legacy content that you can collect. That people will marry streaming services for legacy material is so bizarre.
The ability to watch anywhere and anytime? Physical collections are great, I have one myself, but they're expensive and take up lots of space.
So I'm an avid collector and have a huge collection of TV shows/anime... just putting that up front when I respond with the obvious.
HBO max is rumored to be $15. Which is around the price of one of the ghibli movies.
21 of them have been confirmed meaning to buy all those movies you would pay around the cost of 2 years of hbo max.
buying those movies also wouldn't get you access to any other content on hbo max including Doom Patrol which everyone should watch.
You also have to find space for those 21 movies. Not a huge request but as you buy everything you want it gets more and more.
and you have to get motivated to take them out of the case and put them in a player and play them... a surprisingly high hurdle in this digital age as even though I own like 95% of the shows I would watch on Funimation or Hidive I still just stream them. Heck. I own all of Community on DVD and I still just watched it with Ads on my rewatch on Hulu lol.
Finally it's also about convenience. If I go home for the holidays and want to watch a ghibli movie with my family I just have to sign into my account and BOOM 21 movies. If I want to have that same range of options physically I would need to bring all 21 movies with me.
I subscribe to HBO Now from the UK and HBO seem to have no problem taking my money from a UK card. I'm hoping this will be the same. It is a rarity.
I wonder what HBO Max will mean for us Dutchies. At the moment you can only stream HBO through one cable provider. Will their current HBO content basically include HBO Max too, or will HBO disappear from there in its entirety?
I don't think we know anything about their international plans yet. For now this seems to be a US-only endeavor.
Fair point. I still think it's better getting the most basic possible Plex server (like a USB drive plugged into your router) and just rip your own discs to it, because at some point down the road Warner will lose the rights and you're back to square one. It's best to own and control your content.
This is all just temporary access. I'm sure HBO Max will have the Sopranos forever, but all the third party stuff is just for the time being.
But again, fair point.
Not everyone likes having a bunch of disks around or in storage. Heck I have one friend that has a hard limit on consoles and games where he won't keep more than 2 consoles at at time and almost buys strictly digital games so he won't have any cases around because he hates clutter. He allows himself to have 5 slots for physical collectors editions of games, and if he wants a new one he will get rid of an old one lol. Obviously he is an extreme case, but about half of my friends are digital only on movies and games because they don't want the clutter of cases.
Beyond that I also have a bunch of friends who suck at planning, and building a movie/tv collection as you are talking about would take them years as they would have to do it at like $15 a month, compared to just having a collection of stuff to watch for the same price.
But yes, I know the pain of places losing content. Netflix recently lost the Little Witch Academia OVAs and there is no legal way to watch them with an english dub anymore (you can still import disks for the original Japanese with subtitles) There is no physical release of the series at this time, nor is there one currently announced. I would love to own it physically, but if I had waited for such a thing I never would have gotten to watch it in general. As we continue on in this digital age that will become more and more common. So while yes building up a collection of shows you like is a good way to ensure you can always watch them, it might keep you from watching newer shows that could have become your new favorite shows but never did because you didn't sign up for the subscription because you were too busy building a physical collection. Though obviously if there isn't enough to be worth you signing up for then you shouldn't.
and again. I don't know if Doom Patrol will get a physical release so anyone that signs up for HBO Max should check it out (I know I sound like a damn advertisement but the show is really good and I want more people to watch it to increase the odds we get a third season lol)
btw, I have absolutely no plans to sign up for HBO Max at launch at this time lol. As I said I'm actually someone that prefers to have all my stuff physically like you, I just am also willing to look at the possible benefits of signing up to such a service compared to buying all the stuff myself.