GKIDS, a distributor of award-winning animation for both adult and family audiences, announced Wednesday that it has entered into a distribution agreement with Japan’s renowned Studio Ghibli for North American rights to the studio’s newest release, "From Up on Poppy Hill" ("Kokuriko-zaka kara").
GKIDS is handling theatrical, home video, television and VOD rights and will qualify the film for the Academy Awards in the Best Animated Feature category. Theatrical release is planned for March 2013.
The deal follows on the September 2011 pact between GKIDS and Studio Ghibli for North American theatrical rights to 13 Studio Ghibli titles, including Hayao Miyazaki’s Academy Award-winning "Spirited Away," "My Neighbor Totoro," "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind," "Castle in The Sky," "Kiki’s Delivery Service" and "Princess Mononoke." Disney holds the home video distribution rights for those titles.
The pickup also comes on the heels of a spate of recently announced foreign acquisitions by GKIDS including "Zarafa" (Pathe, France), "The Rabbi’s Cat" (TF1, France), "A Letter to Momo" (Production I.G, Japan), "Le Tableau" (Rezo, France), "Wrinkles" (Six Sales, Spain) and "Tales of the Night" (Studio Canal, France).
"From Up on Poppy Hill" was the top-grossing Japanese film of 2011, earning over $56 million at the Japanese box office and winning the Japan Academy Prize for Animation in 2012. The film was directed by Goro Miyazaki from a screenplay by Hayao Miyazaki, marking the first feature collaboration between father and son. An English-language version is being produced by Studio Ghibli with Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall executive producing.
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| The film will be released in March 2013. |
The deal follows on the September 2011 pact between GKIDS and Studio Ghibli for North American theatrical rights to 13 Studio Ghibli titles, including Hayao Miyazaki’s Academy Award-winning "Spirited Away," "My Neighbor Totoro," "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind," "Castle in The Sky," "Kiki’s Delivery Service" and "Princess Mononoke." Disney holds the home video distribution rights for those titles.
The pickup also comes on the heels of a spate of recently announced foreign acquisitions by GKIDS including "Zarafa" (Pathe, France), "The Rabbi’s Cat" (TF1, France), "A Letter to Momo" (Production I.G, Japan), "Le Tableau" (Rezo, France), "Wrinkles" (Six Sales, Spain) and "Tales of the Night" (Studio Canal, France).
"From Up on Poppy Hill" was the top-grossing Japanese film of 2011, earning over $56 million at the Japanese box office and winning the Japan Academy Prize for Animation in 2012. The film was directed by Goro Miyazaki from a screenplay by Hayao Miyazaki, marking the first feature collaboration between father and son. An English-language version is being produced by Studio Ghibli with Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall executive producing.
