At a time, when everyone walks, talks, wears and even breathes Anime, HBO Max finally seems to have recognised the growing market of anime, on its own “prestige” terms. While the service been home to the Studio Ghibli movies for a long time now, it is now expanding its library through a new deal in a collaboration with the film distributor GKIDS.
HBO Max, starting September 1, will pick up 20 live-action and animated movies by well-known Japanese directors like Hideaki Anno, Makoto Shinkai, and Satoshi Kon, and some of which are all prepped up to premiere in North America for the first time.
In just a few weeks, several movies are making their way to the Warner Bros.-owned service. Here are a few films that are set to be premiered on September 1:
Children Who Chase Lost Voices, directed by Makoto Shinkai
Fireworks, directed by Akiyuki Shinbo and Noboyuki Takeuchi
Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko, directed Ayumu Watanabe (To have a North American streaming debut)
Ghost Cat Anzu, directed Yôko Kuno, Nobuhiro Yamashita (To have a North American streaming debut)
Lonely Castle in the Mirror, directed Keiichi Hara (To have a North American streaming debut)
Love & Pop, directed Hideaki Anno (To have a North American streaming debut)
The Place Promised in Our Early Days, directed by Makoto Shinkai
Your Name, directed by Makoto Shinkai, which is having its 4K streaming debut
More movies will make their way to the streamer in 2026, with specific release dates to be announced:
Angel’s Egg, directed by Mamoru Oshii (North American Streaming Debut, 4K Streaming Debut
Liz and the Blue Bird, directed by Naoko Yamada
Lu Over the Wall, directed by Masaaki Yuasa
Millennium Actress, directed by Satoshi Kon; and a lot more.
The original press release from Warner Bros. mentioned a list of movies are making their North American premiere, as well as which movies will stream in 4K for the first time. One will need a standalone HBO Max Premium account to support 4K streaming, which is in fact not included in the otherwise wonderful Disney+ and Hulu bundle.
This announcement comes after a wave of HBO Max removing older Cartoon Network classics like Courage the Cowardly Dog, which seems part of the service's strategy to shift away from children's content. The sequence of films included in the deal with GKIDS doesn’t seem to stray from this argument; it leans further toward the “adult animation” space than something like the latest shonen anime hits.
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