The revered producer of anime classics had long relied on home video sales and saw digital platforms as anathema to its philosophy of care and mindfulness.
HBO Max kicked off Wednesday with an abundance of noisy hit Warner Bros. movies (like “Wonder Woman” and the entire Harry Potter franchise) and heralded television shows (“Game of Thrones,” “Friends”). Yet tucked inside the platform’s 10,000 hours of programming is a jewel of a film catalog from the Japanese animation house Studio Ghibli, which has garnered both accolades and critical reverence in its 35-year history but whose work has remained elusive to the many streaming services that have come calling over the years.
Founded in 1985 by the filmmakers Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata and Toshio Suzuki, Studio Ghibli has made 21 animated features, earned five Oscar nominations and one statuette for Miyazaki’s 2002 “Spirited Away,” Japan’s highest-grossing film.
The studio and its celebrity director, Miyazaki, have long been subjects of cult adoration. Collectors have hunted down DVD releases for decades. The Studio Ghibli Museum has been a prominent tourist attraction in Mitaka, Japan, since opening in 2001, and the three-year-old Studio Ghibli Fest, held annually in theaters across the United States by its North American distributor, GKids, and Fathom Events, sells out instantly. (The museum is currently closed because of the pandemic, and plans are still in the works for a 2020 edition of the festival.)
Yet, despite the adoration, Studio Ghibli has never been able to cross over into the mass market. Now, these elusive titles will all be housed in one place, prominently displayed next to HBO Max’s better-known properties, in a move that could transform Studio Ghibli from bespoke manufacturer of beautiful hand-drawn animation into the mass-market mainstream.
“Ghibli films have been seen by a wide range of audiences worldwide,” said Suzuki, the architect behind the creation of the studio.
