by lhb412 » Fri Jul 21, 2017 8:12 pm
It's kinda sad that Disney's involvement with Ghibli is done, 'cause they really ushered these films into the United States where they have, in their own way, become iconic. It was obviously a labor of love from everyone who worked on these films at Disney because, hell, they're Disney and could've been working on stupid lucrative things instead of giving the deluxe treatment to some (highly acclaimed) foreign films. Now that Disney is no longer even Disney in a traditional sense, but is the Disney/Marvel/Lucasfilm hydra the relative smallness of their distribution of these films is all the more evident.
But I have upmost confidence in GKids becoming stewards of the Ghibli Library going forward. They've done a terrific job adapting and releasing the films that Disney passed on, and with so much overlap in the staff between Disney and GKids handling of these films that I suppose most people didn't recognize a difference. They've done a terrific job in bringing foreign animation in general into the US and the Ghibli Library will serve a great function as the centerpiece of their catalog. They're already doing a great job and I expect nothing to change.