GKIDS is making ‘Spirited Away’, ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’, ‘My Neighbor Totoro’ and other classic films available for download-to-rent in North America.
It’s a big week for GKIDS! The animation producer and distributor has just released the catalogue of Japan’s Oscar-winning animation house, Studio Ghibli, for digital download-to-rent in the United States and Canada. Films are available to rent in both English and Japanese languages on most major digital transactional platforms, at a suggested retail price of $4.99. This marks the first time the Studio Ghibli films will be available for digital rental in North America, though GKIDS launched an exclusive U.S. streaming deal with HBO Max for the Studio Ghibli library that began in May 2020.
Studio Ghibli films, helmed by animation directors Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, and produced by Toshio Suzuki, have won numerous international awards, including an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature for Spirited Away, as well as five additional Academy Award nominations for Howl’s Moving Castle, The Wind Rises, The Tale of The Princess Kaguya, When Marnie Was There, and The Red Turtle (directed by Michael Dudok de Wit). Director and studio co-founder Hayao Miyazaki himself received an Honorary Award at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Governors Awards in 2014, and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures paid tribute to his artwork with a special inaugural exhibition.
The acclaimed Studio Ghibli film catalogue now available for digital download-to-rent includes: Castle in the Sky; The Cat Returns; Earwig and the Witch; From Up on Poppy Hill; Howl’s Moving Castle; Kiki’s Delivery Service; My Neighbor Totoro; My Neighbors the Yamadas; Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind; Ocean Waves; Only Yesterday; Pom Poko; Ponyo; Porco Rosso; Princess Mononoke; The Secret World of Arrietty; Spirited Away; The Tale of The Princess Kaguya; Tales from Earthsea; When Marnie Was There; Whisper of the Heart; and The Wind Rises.
Whitney is a freelance writer focusing on VFX-driven fantasy film & TV as well as preschool animation.
