GKids acquires UK and Ireland rights to Studio Ghibli’s 23-film library, sets IMAX “Kiki’s Delivery Service” release

GKids, described by Deadline as a Toho-owned animation specialist, has acquired the UK and Ireland distribution rights to Studio Ghibli’s 23-film library, the companies announced in a deal disclosed Wednesday. The acquisition sets up new releases across multiple formats in the territory, including theatrical showings, home video, TV and digital distribution.

The Studio Ghibli library covered by the agreement includes several long-running titles, with Deadline listing “Spirited Away,” “Howl’s Moving Castle,” “The Tale of The Princess Kaguya,” “The Wind Rises,” “Princess Mononoke,” “My Neighbor Totoro,” “Ponyo,” and “Castle in the Sky,” among others. The expanded slate is intended to refresh how audiences in the UK and Ireland can access the catalog.

Deadline also said the deal includes IMAX releases, with the first title planned for the format being “Kiki’s Delivery Service.” Variety, reporting separately, likewise highlighted that “Kiki’s Delivery Service” is scheduled for an IMAX release as GKids adds the Studio Ghibli library in the UK and Ireland, marking the start of the broader rollout.

Alongside the theatrical and IMAX plans, the rights package is structured to cover additional downstream markets, including home video and pay and free television windows, as well as digital distribution. The announcement indicates GKids will coordinate the schedule for those formats within the UK and Ireland territory rather than relying solely on a single platform.

The agreement also addresses existing streaming arrangements. Deadline reported that Goodfellas retains streaming rights for the territory, where it has been licensed to Netflix. That retained streaming arrangement suggests GKids’ newly acquired rights for digital access and other formats in the UK and Ireland will be implemented around the boundaries of the current Netflix-linked license.

While Wednesday’s announcement laid out the scope of the catalog and the initial IMAX title, the reporting did not provide a full schedule for all 23 films across each format. Further release dates, platform-by-platform availability, and details of which titles will be prioritized beyond “Kiki’s Delivery Service” were not specified in the initial deal announcement.

Industry watchers have previously linked Ghibli’s Western distribution to staggered licensing and format-specific rights, often resulting in different availability windows by territory and platform. In that context, the GKids acquisition for the UK and Ireland is positioned as a consolidating step for theatrical, home entertainment, broadcast and many digital touchpoints, while leaving one major streaming pathway in place through the Goodfellas-to-Netflix arrangement.

For families and educators, changes in Ghibli access can also affect local programming for children’s film audiences and curriculum-adjacent screenings, particularly where theatrical and community calendars depend on distributors for remasters, language versions and presentation rights. The new UK and Ireland package, beginning with an IMAX release, is expected to influence what can be scheduled in those venues as the 23-title schedule is rolled out.

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