Studio Ghibli Inks Deal to Rerelease Hayao Miyazaki’s Anime Classics in Cinemas Across Southeast Asia

Japan’s Studio Ghibli is partnering with Singapore-based mm2 Entertainment to rerelease Hayao Miyazaki‘s beloved anime classics in cinemas across Southeast Asia over the next five years. 

The distribution deal, unveiled by the two companies Thursday, will see mm2 release 21 of Ghibli’s iconic films, including fan favorites like Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle and My Neighbor Totoro, across seven territories: Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, and Cambodia.

The plan continues Ghibli’s highly lucrative leveraging of its library in recent years. Undertaking a similar strategy in mainland China, the company has earned tens of millions by making Miyazaki’s work available to a new generation of Chinese moviegoers. The maestro’s My Neighbor Totoro earned $26 million from a China rerelease in 2018, followed by Spirited Away with $69 million in 2019. Other titles have followed. 

Mm2 said the first titles in the Studio Ghibli library will be given the rerelease treatment in Southeast Asia later this year. The company’s parent company, mm2 Asia, operates cinema chains in Singapore and Malaysia, where it will handle the marketing and distribution of the Ghibli titles directly. In other markets, it will work with partners. 

“Studio Ghibli’s films are renowned worldwide for their artistry, storytelling, and emotional resonance,” said Chang Long Jong, Group CEO of mm2 Asia. “This partnership allows us to bring these beloved classics to Southeast Asian audiences, where they can be enjoyed on the big screen as intended. We are confident that this collaboration will introduce a new generation of fans to the world of Studio Ghibli.”

Ghibli has been enjoying something of a benedictory victory lap of late. The studio was recognized in May at the 77th Cannes Film Festival with an honorary Palme d’Or, further solidifying its status as a global cultural icon. And Miyazaki’s latest film, The Boy and the Heron, earned well over $250 million last year at the global box office, later winning the Oscar for best animated feature. In Singapore, an upcoming “World of Studio Ghibli” exhibition launching at ArtScience Museum in Singapore will further introduce the region’s fans to the unique experience of the studio’s stories and characters. 

“Many visitors from Southeast Asia come to the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka and Ghibli Park [near Nagoya] every day,” said Junichi Nishioka, Ghibli’s vp of international distribution. “Recently, Hayao Miyazaki received the prestigious Magsaysay Award (often called the ‘Nobel Prize of Asia’). We feel that our films are being enjoyed by a much larger number of Asian people than before. I am very happy that this opportunity will be a great help in bringing our works to even more people, and to the children who will be born in the future.”