A decade in, Studio Ghibli Fest keeps growing as new generations flock to 'Totoro,' 'Ponyo' and more

NEW YORK (AP) — Whenever the calendar comes out, Amanda Mendoza VanCleave circles the dates.

Studio Ghibli Fest, the long-running theatrical revivals of Ghibli movies, has taken on a special meaning for her, her 3-year-old daughter and her mother, Araceli. Every year, they go to see each Ghibli rerelease in theaters.

“Right when she sees the opening Totoro logo, she screams ‘Totoro!’” VanCleave, 34, says of her daughter. “Everyone in the theater started laughing, and I was like, ‘Oh, gosh, sorry.’”

Though the family discovered the Ghibli movies on HBO Max, the outings to their favorite theater in Austin, Texas, became a tradition. Earlier this month, when they went (again) to see Hayao Miyazaki’s 1988 anime classic, “My Neighbor Totoro,” they wore matching Totoro jammies.

“It’s been our thing,” says VanCleave. “Us three girls together.”

The passionate fandom Ghibli tends to inspire is well-documented. Yet the consistency of the Japanese animation studio’s films in theaters — years, even decades after their release — is without parallel in movies. Every year, longtime Ghibli fans as well as new, little ones, flock to cinemas.

Sporadically dated from June through October, Ghibli Fest has been running for a decade. Movies like “My Neighbor Totoro,” “Spirited Away” and “Ponyo” have become not occasional rereleases but practically theatrical mainstays. Ghibli Fest is more like an ongoing movie marathon: cinema’s answer to Bob Dylan’s Never Ending Tour.

And, remarkably, it keeps growing. When GKids, the North American distributor for Ghibli, and Fathom Entertainment launched Ghibli Fest in 2017, its five titles accounted for $5 million in ticket sales. But the festival’s biggest box-office years have been the last three — all after Ghibli titles became easy to stream on HBO Max in 2020.

“I’d be lying if I thought the program when we conceived it would be going as long as it has,” says Dave Jesteadt, GKids president. “It does defy conventional wisdom. We keep waiting for the year that people tire of going to the films, but that’s not what’s happening. Every single year, we see records being set. The grosses are going up, not down.”

Ghibli expands its footprint

The biggest year for Ghibli Fest was 2024, when 14 movies accounted for $16.4 million in sales. Last year, eight movies grossed $10.6 million. This year, both “Ponyo” and “My Neighbor Totoro” have already played for popular five-day stints.

Shannah Miller, vice president of marketing for Fathom, a company owned by the country’s top theater chains, has watched demand keep expanding.

“When we started, I think our theatrical footprint was about 640 locations,” Miller says. “This year, we’re crossing over 1,100 locations. We started with two, maybe three playdates for a particular title, but due to fan demand, we have five-day runs for some titles.”

When GKids first got Ghibli library in 2011, the Japanese studio emphasized how important theatrical was to them. First GKids hosted retrospectives, mostly in major markets and at arthouses. But Ghibli Fest moved the movies into multiplexes where a new generation of kids might stop before a cardboard cutout of Kiki (from “Kiki’s Delivery Service”) or No Face (from “Spirited Away”) and wonder if there might be animated movie worlds beyond Disney.

“One of the worst things that can happen to classics is that they’re perceived as classics and kept in amber,” says Jesteadt. “We wanted to move to a nationwide celebration that really treated these as equivalent to any new Hollywood film.”

While North America moviegoing is up more than 10% this year, theaters have learned over the last decade that they can’t always depend on a steady stream of new Hollywood releases. There tend to be soft spots in the schedule, and early weekdays are always slow, anyhow.

Older movies have, increasingly, filled in the gaps. Ghibli Fest, though, predates more recent repertory trends. And the long-term effects have paid dividends, helping foster new Ghibli lovers. While an earlier generation might have been introduced first through Miyazaki’s 2001 masterpiece “Spirited Away,” GKids now sees younger moviegoers indoctrinated by “Ponyo” or “Howl’s Moving Castle.”

“When we introduced the catalog to streaming in 2020 for the first time, we thought, ‘OK, surely, this is maybe the moment,’” says Jesteadt. “But if anything, that just brought in a new audience that wanted to see these films in theaters for the first time.”

‘More fun than HBO Max’

This year’s fest continues with “Tales of Earthsea” (Aug. 8, 10), “Only Yesterday” (Aug. 9, 11), the 40th anniversary of the first Ghibli release, 1986’s “Castle in the Sky” (Aug. 22-26), a 4K remastered “Princess Mononoke” (Sept. 26-30) and finally a 25th anniversary for “Spirited Away” (Oct. 17-21).

While some of these movies are revived in other countries, Ghibli Fest is so far a strictly U.S.-based phenomenon.

“We are equally in awe of and proud of what we’re building and the opportunity to celebrate instead of all the doom and gloom, ‘Is theater dead?’ conversations,” Miller says. “We have a different story to tell with Studio Ghibli.”

Studio Ghibli is such a cultural powerhouse that there are countless opportunities to reconnect with its stories. The Academy Museum is hosting a new “Ponyo” exhibit. The composer Joe Hisaishi is touring the music of many of the films, including a seven-night residency at New York’s Radio City Music Hall in August.

But the movies, themselves, on the big screen, are the eternal flames of Ghibli. The screenings are places for Ghibli fans, new and old, to congregate and immerse themselves in the natural splendor of the films.

Angela Lector, 27, has attended “Howl’s Moving Castle” dressed as its hero, Sophie, and met Japanese film students at a showing of “Princess Mononoke,” a favorite from when she was a kid.

“Being in the theater is so much more fun than being on HBO Max,” says Lector. “Being in your home, you can make your own popcorn and cuddle up with your dog. But being in the theater you can actually talk to people you don’t know about the movie.”

Ghibli fans’ only gripes are usually that the festival doesn’t feature more deep cuts from the library. Lector would love to see 1984’s” pre-Ghibli “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind” brought back.

“The Ghibli films are timeless. There’s something for everyone in them,” Lector says. “Everything feels human. No one is too powerful or too small.”

That can go for audience members, too. VanCleave recently noticed a classmate of her daughter’s wearing a bow like Kiki’s.

“I saw her mom and asked about it. We got to talking, and she also had watched Ghibli movies at home,” VanCleave says. “So, we invited her to ‘Ponyo,’ and it was her first movie theater experience. It was cute. The two 3-year-olds shared a recliner.”