Studio Ghibli

[g.schweet]

Originally Posted by MJW

Although I'd prefer to see them sooner, I wonder if Disney will wait to release the next 2 to coincide with the US theatrical premiere of Arrietty in February 2012? Maybe we'll even get Whisper of the Heart then, if we're lucky.

This would be my guess, or maybe the first week of March like Ponyo and Nausicaa.
Importing definitely seems to be the way to go, but I'll wait for them to hit £10 since I have the dvds, hopefully they'll be announced for the US by then (I kinda like the gold slips on the shelf).

[thelittleprince]

Originally Posted by MJW

I'm starting to worry that Disney is going to give up on releasing the Studio Ghibli Blu-rays in the US.

I'm not sure how well Ponyo or Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind sold, but it's been 8 months since the next two titles, Laputa: Castle in the Sky and My Neighbors the Yamadas, were released in Japan and we haven't even heard a peep from Disney as to when these might arrive in the US. I understand that it takes some time from the original Japan release to other places in the world, but you've got to think that if Disney doesn't see these flying off the shelves, they are going to get more hesitant about North American releases of this amazing films.

Although I'd prefer to see them sooner, I wonder if Disney will wait to release the next 2 to coincide with the US theatrical premiere of Arrietty in February 2012? Maybe we'll even get Whisper of the Heart then, if we're lucky.

I know I could always import, but I have a hard time justifying spending $80+ per title when they'll *hopefully* be available here eventually.

Why not release the more popular Miyazaki films in the US first-- Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away-- to create more interest in his lesser known films. Maybe even a boxed set.

[ScarredLungs]

Originally Posted by thelittleprince

Why not release the more popular Miyazaki films in the US first-- Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away-- to create more interest in his lesser known films. Maybe even a boxed set.

My wife would love to have those films on blu-ray. Of course, I would as well. A box set I think could sell very well.

[Jasonic]

Disney no longer has distributing rights to Princess Mononoke.
But if they have kind of given up with releasing these on Blu, you definitely would at least think for them to release Spirited Away, if only that, since it definitely was the more popular one and gained high acclaim in the US.
I would import some of these from Japan, because they do have the English dubs, but its just to expensive. Though I may very well get desperate if Japan ever comes out with Spirited Away or Mononoke.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by thelittleprince

Why not release the more popular Miyazaki films in the US first-- Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away-- to create more interest in his lesser known films. Maybe even a boxed set.

You'd have to ask the Japanese producers, as part of the arrangement was that the domestic Japan releases come first, to avoid import competition.
(Which was why it took so long before the DVD's came out.)

The Japanese releases seem to be going in chronological order, with some exceptions, so you can expect Castle in the Sky long before you can expect Howl's Moving one.

Originally Posted by Jasonic

Disney no longer has distributing rights to Princess Mononoke.

Why, because ONE fan article said so?
I already read said article: He was dopey enough to read about Echo Bridge getting Miramax, and ran down on his hot lil' legs to e-mail, "Cool, does this mean we'll get Mononoke? ", and was told Echo did not have it.
No duh. It was part of Disney's negotiation.

He e-mailed BVHE and was told that BVHE "does not have it presently".
Which could also be the default form response for an OOP title (blowoff! ), but could also be the case: Tokuma made Mononoke's deal separate from Disney's offer; Disney had negotiated rights to the previous films, and later invested in Ponyo, Howl's and Spirited, but Tokuma inserted the "US theatrical distribution for Mononoke" clause as a rider, possibly for publicity value. (PM was the Japanese Avatar of its day, and news about exports had nationalistic appeal at the time.)
Disney "orphaned" the distribution to Miramax, but it was never owned by the Weinstein Company, nor was the dub produced at Miramax. (Eg. "Doogal".)

They're likely to renew, but does Disney have it or not? Complicated question. But as fan panics go, don't jerk your er....knee about it.

[molson1138]

I've been holding off on buying the DVDs to pick up the Blu's. Looks like I should just buy the DVD versions as the Blu's are a ways away.

[Jasonic]

Originally Posted by EricJ

Why, because ONE fan article said so?
I already read said article: He was dopey enough to read about Echo Bridge getting Miramax, and ran down on his hot lil' legs to e-mail, "Cool, does this mean we'll get Mononoke? ", and was told Echo did not have it.
No duh. It was part of Disney's negotiation.

He e-mailed BVHE and was told that BVHE "does not have it presently".
Which could also be the default form response for an OOP title (blowoff! ), but could also be the case: Tokuma made Mononoke's deal separate from Disney's offer; Disney had negotiated rights to the previous films, and later invested in Ponyo, Howl's and Spirited, but Tokuma inserted the "US theatrical distribution for Mononoke" clause as a rider, possibly for publicity value. (PM was the Japanese Avatar of its day, and news about exports had nationalistic appeal at the time.)
Disney "orphaned" the distribution to Miramax, but it was never owned by the Weinstein Company, nor was the dub produced at Miramax. (Eg. "Doogal".)

They're likely to renew, but does Disney have it or not? Complicated question. But as fan panics go, don't jerk your er....knee about it.

I didn't get most of that, but OKAY


Anyways, I think we wait to see if anything comes in March. Since Nausicaa was March of this year, and Ponyo (among a few others on DVD) were March of last year.

[Exist2Inspire]

Has anyone thought of importing the Hong Kong Blu-Rays? They're absolutely fantastic and they all have proper English Subtitles and Original Audio.

They also seem to be very, very close to the Japanese ones now, with a high bit-rate and everything.

Granted, they have different slip covers than the Disney's, and they won't match up to your previous ones, but at least they are Region A.

[Si1entElegy]

Originally Posted by Exist2Inspire

Has anyone thought of importing the Hong Kong Blu-Rays? They're absolutely fantastic and they all have proper English Subtitles and Original Audio.

They also seem to be very, very close to the Japanese ones now, with a high bit-rate and everything.

Granted, they have different slip covers than the Disney's, and they won't match up to your previous ones, but at least they are Region A.

Since Disney doesn't have Grave of the Fireflies and Princess Mononoke, I've given this a lot of thought. Is the package identitical to the Japanese release? Are the slipcovers guaranteed?

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by Jasonic

Anyways, I think we wait to see if anything comes in March. Since Nausicaa was March of this year, and Ponyo (among a few others on DVD) were March of last year.

Again, IMDb has Disney distributing "Arietty" for February 17, although wide or limited isn't mentioned.
If it's going wide to cash in on the kids' school-vacation audience, we'll probably see whatever's next available on the list announced, with movie cash...Probably "Castle/Sky" for the same "adventure" tie-in.

(Although "Yamadas" may come off with just a DVD re-release, but that's just a guess.)

[MJW]

Originally Posted by EricJ

(Although "Yamadas" may come off with just a DVD re-release, but that's just a guess.)

That's be a shame, but I wouldn't be surprised. Either that or we'll get "Studio Ghibli 2-Movie Collections" with two random movies paired together to cut costs.

It's hard to imagine Yamadas getting it's own Blu-ray release over here, but you never know.

[skullking123]

Howl's Moving Castle Blu-Ray was just released in Japan on the 16th. Disney sure is letting these titles pile up

[Fabiosugitani]

I just can't wait anymore...
I'll prob start importing from Japan if no news comes up with the theatrical release of Arietty

[MJW]

Originally Posted by Fabiosugitani

I just can't wait anymore...
I'll prob start importing from Japan if no news comes up with the theatrical release of Arietty

Yeah, that's pretty much what I'm thinking, too. Disney would be foolish not to release SOMETHING alongside Arrietty. Maybe we'll get Castle in the Sky and My Neighbors the Yamadas...only a YEAR after the rest of the world.

In the meantime, it might be worthwhile for Ghibli fans to tell Disney they are going to lose sales to imports:
http://www.disneystudioshelp.com/Contact_Us.html

Not sure how much they listen, but I've emailed them every few months letting them know that there is interest in these titles. It can't hurt for others to do the same!

[Steve46]

Originally Posted by MJW

Yeah, that's pretty much what I'm thinking, too. Disney would be foolish not to release SOMETHING alongside Arrietty. Maybe we'll get Castle in the Sky and My Neighbors the Yamadas...only a YEAR after the rest of the world.

In the meantime, it might be worthwhile for Ghibli fans to tell Disney they are going to lose sales to imports:
http://www.disneystudioshelp.com/Contact_Us.html

Not sure how much they listen, but I've emailed them every few months letting them know that there is interest in these titles. It can't hurt for others to do the same!

Done.

[DarknessBDJM]

Howl's and Spirited Away have played on Starz (which has broadcast rights to the Disney library) and HDNet Movies, so Disney has HD masters for them (both look fantastic for broadcast hdtv).

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by MJW

Yeah, that's pretty much what I'm thinking, too. Disney would be foolish not to release SOMETHING alongside Arrietty. Maybe we'll get Castle in the Sky and My Neighbors the Yamadas...only a YEAR after the rest of the world.

They CAN only release those a year after the rest of the world. That's part of the conditions of the deal.
Back in '99, one of the main forces that came out of the Ghibli deal in the first place was that Japan had no interest in DVD back then (LD had never lost popularity), but when Disney put out its own Miramax DVD of "Princess Mononoke", Toho insisted it contain no Japanese track, to avoid seeing Japanese home-theater fans buy imported US disks of their own movie.
(The same problem Toho had with the Godzilla films, resulting in ADV's stripped bare-bones "Destroy All Monsters".)

The resulting flap, and one of the few all-out audience studio-petitions that actually worked (by following the rules ), emphasized that Toho should step up its Japanese DVD industry to compete--What Disney was obligated in return was, to keep hands off the import titles until a safe time after the native country had a crack at them.
And going by Japan's Blu release order, you can expect Castle and Yamadas next. (When, nobody's sure, but February's Disney's best kids'-sleeper season, and they've got Arietty in theaters.) You don't really have much choice. But have fun with the website thing.

[MJW]

Originally Posted by DarknessBDJM

Howl's and Spirited Away have played on Starz (which has broadcast rights to the Disney library) and HDNet Movies, so Disney has HD masters for them (both look fantastic for broadcast hdtv).

I don't think Disney can release Ghibli Blu-rays in North America unless the title has first been released in Japan. That being said, we're waiting on quite a few that are available elsewhere in the world:

• Laputa: Castle in the Sky
• My Neighbors the Yamadas
• Whisper of the Heart
• Howl's Moving Castle
• Tales from Earthsea

With The Secret World of Arrietty in theaters in February, hopefully we'll see a Blu-ray release in May or June next year.

[disneyfreak]

I've never seen any of the Ghibli Films but they look good, any suggestions on which ones to start with?

[Canada]

Originally Posted by rezpekt

Lossy audio = no buy

Hopefully Optimum will have lossless audio for the UK release of "Ponyo".

I fully agree we need Japanese lossless audio on all North American releases.