Fantasia

[Jafar]

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind UK BD in October!!!!!

http://homecinema.thedigitalfix.co.uk/c ... tober.html

[Randall]

So, that UK release is from Optimum, not Disney.

Is Disney's hold on Ghibli content worldwide (excluding Japan) now expired, or was Nausicaa not actually part of that deal due to not being a Ghibli film?

(Disney did release it on DVD in a similar format as its Studio Ghibli releases, but perhaps that actually fell totally outside the Ghibli deal. Nausicaa came out theatrically prior to Ghibli being formed, but is often considered an "unofficial" Ghibli film.)

[Bill1978]

Studio Ghibli DVDs are released in Australia by a company called Madman Entertainment. They are responsible for the theatrical distribution as well. The English dub is the Disney dub and we get the Disney extras as well. Nausicaa is part of their distribution and from what I can gather Nausicaa is considered Studio Ghibli these days in distribution and release.

[Ben]

Disney's never owned Ghibli films outside the US/Canada, Rand.

All the Ghibli UK discs (even Ponyo) are through Optimum here, and other countries across Europe. As Bill says, all these releases carry the Disney dubs and extras (even their name). They just don't get to distribute them. In terms of Nausicaa, it's presented as part of the same collection, design wise, as the rest of Optimum's Ghibli releases.

[Randall]

I had mis-remembered the details of the Disney-Ghibli deal. The original deal did not include DVD rights, and when the deal was altered later to include them, not all of the Ghibli fims were included. What I was rememebring was that Disney got to distribute the films theatrically to most of the world.

http://www.onlineghibli.com/spe/disney-tokuma.php

[GeorgeC]

Disney also doesn't distribute the movie "Grave of the Fireflies."

That's another Ghibli film. It wasn't in Tokuma/Disney deal because of the fact that an American anime distributor (the now defunct Central Park Media) had the rights to the film. After CPM went belly up, another distributor (ADV Films now Section 23) grabbed the rights to distribute "Grave of the Fireflies" in the US.

"Nausicaa's" still part of Ghibli's library.

The home video distribution deal I believe only affects North America (US/Canada) and Japan. The rest of the world fall under different deals. I'm fairly certain Ghibli still retains theatrical distribution rights in Asia even though Disney handles the home video distribution in Japan of the films.

How they decide WHICH English dub gets included on the films is beyond me. Remember, at least 3-4 of the Ghibli films (including Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Porco Rosso, and Kiki's Delivery Service) had English dubs before the Disney deal. Disney then did its own dub.

Yes, Virginia, some anime films have already had at least 2-3 English dubs by now! This includes UK dubs, too. I've been under the impression for a while now that the UK also has a dub of Project A-ko which was dubbed in the US by CPM.



P.S. -- A lot of people consider the Disney dubs better in general than the older dubs.

I couldn't honestly say... The only non-Disney dub I've heard is the one for My Neighbor Totoro on the old 20th Century Fox laserdisc release of that film. It was widely available on VHS for years, too. The DVD release was also fairly common and went out-of-print shortly before Disney got the rights to the film.

[Jafar]

Optimum (UK) and Madman (Australia) have the rights to their other (mainly pre-Ghibli) films too (The Little Norse Prince, Castle of Cagliostro, Grave of the Fireflies, Ocean Waves), Disney doesn't.

Also, they are yet to release "Only Yesterday" across stateside, which was indeed a part of that Disney-Tokuma deal. Pity they've just been sitting on a lovely film.

[GeorgeC]

I'm convinced Disney will NEVER release "Only Yesterday" in the US on home video.

It was only shown on television ONCE on TCM 4 years ago as part of a Ghibli retrospective. Shortly after that, a few of the films made the rounds on Cartoon Network. I know Spirited Away was shown a time or two before they let that lapse, too.

I'll eventually get "Only Yesterday" but probably only after it gets released on Blu ray in Japan. I just hate the region coding business on DVD. I'd have to use a Region defeater, get a modded DVD player, or play it on a computer.

No thanks, I'll wait for the Region A Blu ray...

[Ben]

Optimum also owns the theatrical rights, in the UK at least. And just for info, all the Optimum UK dubs have been what Disney has invested in for their US releases.

[GeorgeC]

It's not always the case that new dubs get used...

I'm curious about the older Ghibli dubs, myself. I've heard a few older dubs and frankly they're not that bad. I've heard both English dubs of Akira (not a Ghibli film but an example of a well-known anime feature with alternate dubs) but wouldn't mind hearing what they came up with for the other Ghibli films besides Totoro (which I have on LD and DVD from Fox). The earlier dubs still get put onto DVDs sold through Asia... The older Ghibli dubs were also released on the pre-Disney LD releases and pre-Disney DVDs.

Now that Disney's involved it's as if the earlier dubs don't exist anywhere outside of the Pacific Rim (Asia + Australia + New Zealand + that general area)!

************

ONTO other Disney Blu ray plans...


From The Digital Bits, this Monday 27th September 2010 --

"In other news today, you Disney animation fans will be glad to know that in addition to Fantasia/Fantasia 2000 and Toy Story 3, Disney's new Beauty and the Beast: Diamond Edition includes trailers promoting the 2011 Blu-ray release of not just The Lion King: Diamond Edition, not just the Bambi: Diamond Edition, and not just the Alice in Wonderland: 60th Anniversary Edition, but also the long-awaited Dumbo: 70th Anniversary Edition! Now if we could just get Warner Bros. to start releasing the Looney Tunes shorts on Blu-ray. Or maybe the Tex Avery shorts... "

Start saving your pennies and look for coupons!

It's a busy year for Disney Home Video!



(Now if only WB would get off its #$%-crack and actually release more Looney Tunes shorts in decent and get to work on Tex Avery. It's been a long near-20 years since the LD sets!)

[Ben]

I have to say that I'll believe most of them when they actually come!

[droosan]

I'm glad to hear Disney is planning to pick up the pace for Blu-ray releases of their classic animated features. Two or three 'catalog' titles per year -- alongside their current movies -- has seemed a snails' pace, when compared with their DVD release roster during years past.

No mention of The Little Mermaid or Tarzan yet, though..? Darn.

[Bill1978]

Now that Disney's involved it's as if the earlier dubs don't exist anywhere outside of the Pacific Rim (Asia + Australia + New Zealand + that general area)!

Not too sure if I've read this correctly but Australia definitely only has access to the new Disney dubs for Ghibli films.

I'm still waiting for an extra special release of Hercules. Mainly in hopes that there is some 'deleted' song of Menken's

[Ben]

It would be nice to see "Shooting Star" on boards as it was originally intended in the movie (Hercules). And I think there was at least one other deleted or changed song in that score than just ended up being a score cue instead of a song.

Just watched Hercules again over the weekend. Still a fun picture.

[Bill1978]

Shooting Star got replaced with Go The Distance? Is that right? Basing this assumption solely on Boyzone's single where the lyrics seem to fit into the I Want song category and I can't imagine Hercules singing that twice unless they wanted to portray him as whiny.

And I know that Susan Egan recorded an alternate song for Megara on one of her albums. It's called I Can't Believe My Heart, which after purchasing off iTunes sounds like I Won't Say (I'm In Love) definitely replaced it.

And I agree Ben, Hercules is definitely a fun picture.