France’s Wild Bunch International and Studiocanal UK will fight in UK courts for the rights to Studio Ghibli

French distribution giant Wild Bunch International (WBI) and Studiocanal UK have filed a dispute with the UK High Court over the rights to Studio Ghibli films in the region.

Studiocanal UK has objected to the WBI-brokered 2019 Netflix deal that gives the platform worldwide streaming rights to much of the Studio Ghibli catalogue.

In a lawsuit filed on November 3, the company said the deal affected its ability to operate 15 Studio Ghibli titles in the UK that were included in a home entertainment deal signed in 2015 and completed in 2017 .

The 2019 Netflix deal for worldwide rights (excluding North America and Japan) to 21 Studio Ghibli titles was considered groundbreaking at the time.

Until this point, Studio Ghibli films were only available in theaters and then via DVD, Blu-Ray or terrestrial broadcast, as co-founders Hayao Miyazaki, the late Isao Takahata and Toshio Suzuki refused to sell them the digital rights. . by area.

WBI has held the international rights to all Studio Ghibli films since 2002, when it secured the sales mandate for Miyazaki’s Oscar-winning hit. Mentally gone.

Studiocanal UK, a Paris-based subsidiary of pan-European film production and distribution giant Studiocanal, has long been the home entertainment distributor of Studio Ghibli titles in the UK.

This association with the Japanese animation studio and distribution team of Wild Bunch, which spun off independently under the WBI banner in 2019, dates back to the Optimum Releasing era, which was acquired by Studiocanal in 2006 and renamed Studiocanal UK in 2011. .

Under the original tenure of co-founders Will Clarke and Danny Perkins, the company pioneered bringing Studio Ghibli titles to UK audiences under the Optimum Asia label in the early 2000s.

This arrangement continued until Perkins’ departure as CEO of Studiocanal UK in 2018 to co-found the Elysian Film Group, which would later receive the rights to Studio Ghibli’s final production. Earworm and the witch.

Sources close to the matter say neither the original Optimum release deals nor the revised Studiocanal UK deals in 2015 and 2017 included streaming rights.

They add that none of the distributors in other territories that held home entertainment licenses for the Studio Ghibli titles objected to the Netflix deal.

In retaliation, WBI filed a separate lawsuit to recover royalties on the Studio Ghibli titles that Studiocanal failed to pay under the terms of the 2015 contract and its renewal.

Neither Studiocanal UK nor WBI responded to requests for comment. Netflix and Studio Ghibli are not involved in the case.