Studio Ghibli has always had a theater-only approach to releasing their films. If you missed it in theaters, you could buy it and that was the only way to see it. That all changes now that more than 20 titles are coming to Netflix as an exclusive beginning in February.
Castle in the Sky is the first of seven films to kick off the streaming launch in February with more coming on March 1, and April 1, with seven titles releasing each month. Here is the list of titles and when you can expect to find them on Netflix through Spring 2020:
FEB. 1, 2020
- Castle in the Sky (1986)
- My Neighbor Totoro (1988)
- Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)
- Only Yesterday (1991)
- Porco Rosso (1992)
- Ocean Waves (1993)
- Tales from Earthsea (2006)
MARCH 1, 2020
- Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
- Princess Mononoke (1997)
- My Neighbors the Yamadas (1999)
- Spirited Away (2001)
- The Cat Returns (2002)
- Arrietty (2010)
- The Tale of The Princess Kaguya (2013)
APRIL 1, 2020
- Pom Poko (1994)
- Whisper of the Heart (1995)
- Howl’s Moving Castle (2004)
- Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (2008)
- From Up on Poppy Hill (2011)
- The Wind Rises (2013)
- When Marnie Was There (2014)
“This is a dream come true for Netflix and millions of our members. Studio Ghibli’s animated films are legendary and have enthralled fans around the world for over 35 years. We’re excited to make them available in more languages across Latin America, Europe, Africa and Asia — so that more people can enjoy this whimsical and wonderful world of animation.”
– Aram Yacoubian, director of original animation at Netflix
Netflix has millions of subscribers, so Ghibli made a pretty decent choice in choosing them to be their streaming platform of choice but we are surprised Disney didn’t make more of a push for those films but fought hard to acquire The Simpsons. Still, we are subs of Netflix as well, and we can’t wait to get to binging these movies later this year.
