There’s now one more option if you’re worried about the future of HBO Max as a home for animation One of the failures of our streaming present has been how, regardless of how many streaming services and digital platforms there are, Studio Ghibli’s acclaimed animated films have long been withheld from them.
Slowly, that’s been changing: 2019 was the first year that viewers could purchase Ghibli films digitally, and in 2020 current U.S. distributor GKids made the Ghibli library available to stream on HBO Max.
While digital rental isn’t as appealing as digital — or physical — ownership, the uncertainty overtaking the streaming landscape means that lower-cost, easily accessible options for a lot of animated work is coming into question.
Should the executives at Warner Bros. Discovery suddenly decide they are no longer interested in having Studio Ghibli’s films on their service, it will quickly be that much harder to see these films with the ease and convenience of digital viewing.