Spirited Away – Copyright, Studio Ghibli
When the announcement was made in January that the Studio Ghibli films were coming to Netflix, anime fans rejoiced. Then it was announced that the 21 films coming to Netflix would be split across three separate release dates, one of the first questions many would have had on their mind is “when is Spirited Away coming to Netflix?”. You won’t have to wait long as the critically acclaimed Spirited Away arrives in March.
Spirited Away is a critically acclaimed anime film produced by Studio Ghibli and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Bringing 0ver $347 million worldwide at the box office, Spirited Away is the second-highest-grossing anime film of all time.
Taking a wrong turn on their journey to their new home in the Japanese countryside, ten-year-old Chihiro Ogino and her parents discover an abandoned amusement park. When her parents are turned into pigs after eating from a vacant restaurant, Chihiro is left with no choice but to find work and forms a contract with Yubaba, the witch that runs the local-bath house. Signing her name away as part of the contract, the only hope Chihiro has of escaping the strange world inhabited by spirits, demons, and gods is to break the contract and to remember her name.
When is Spirited Away coming to Netflix?
Subscribers won’t have to wait long now until Spirited Away arrives on Netflix. Spirited Away and six other Studio Ghibli titles are scheduled to arrive on March 1st, 2020.
All the studio Ghibli titles coming to Netflix won’t be available to stream in the US, Canada, and Japan.
Where can I stream Spirited Away in the US?
At the time of writing Spirited Away doesn’t have a streaming home in the US, but it will have soon.
When HBO launches its new streaming service, HBO Max, all of the Studio Ghibli titles will be available to stream on the service in May.
There’s confirmation where the Studio Ghibli films will be going to in Canada, but as Crave is the service that streams content from HBO it would be safe to assume that the films will eventually be available to stream on the platform.
How successful was Spirited Away?
Both critically and commercially, Spirited Away is arguably the most successful anime film of all time. Studio Ghibli was already a popular and highly regarded animation studio, but Spirited Away shot its reputation into the stratosphere.
Until the release of Your Name in 2016, Spirited Away was the highest-grossing anime film of all time. Nineteen years later the latter still holds the title as the highest-grossing Japanese film of all time.
If we cheat and adjust those box office figures to match inflation then Spirited Away would still be the highest-grossing anime of all time:
| Film | Box Office Figures | Adjusted for Inflation in 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Spirited Away (2001) | $347,742,810 | $516,516,668.17 |
| Your Name (2016) | $359,889,749 | $388,168,901.64 |
Commercial success aside, Spirited Away won the best accolade of them all by winning the Oscar for Best Animated Feature at the 75th Academy Awards.
Between 2001 and 2004, Spirited Away was nominated for a total of 37 awards, winning 34 of them.
The legacy of Spirited Away can still be felt today. Across the years Studio Ghibli’s most famous film has been acknowledged as one of the best of the 21st century by various different outlets.
Are you looking forward to watching Spirited Away on Netflix? Let us know in the comments below!
