THE BOY AND THE HERON anime movie is coming back to North American theaters on March 22 in celebration of its Best Animated Feature award at the 96th Academy Awards (Oscars). It’s the first movie directed by Hayao Miyazaki since The Wind Rises in 2013, and the new screenings will also include exclusive bonus content featuring an introduction from the film’s composer Joe Hisaishi and a recorded drawing session with supervising animator Takeshi Honda.
The screenings will be in both the original Japanese language, as well as the English-language version, which features the voices of Christian Bale, Dave Bautista, Gemma Chan, Willem Dafoe, Karen Fukuhara, Mark Hamill, Robert Pattinson and Florence Pugh. GKIDS also uploaded a new English-dubbed trailer.
The Academy Award was the second Oscar for Hayao Miyazaki, who earned four previous nominations and won his first one for Spirited Away (released in 2002). Spirited Away and THE BOY AND THE HERON are the only two hand-drawn films to win in the history of this category, which was established by the Academy in 2002. It was also Studio Ghibli’s 2nd win, while they’ve had a total of 7 nominations. The win was the the first as a company for GKIDS after 13 nominations in the Best Animated Feature category.
It is also GKIDS’ highest-grossing release of its 16-year history and Studio Ghibli’s highest-grossing film in North America. According to the official press release, the movie has earned over $46 million at the North American box office to date, also hitting the milestone of highest-grossing original Japanese animated film of all time, domestically.
THE BOY AND THE HERON, dubbed as Miyazaki’s final movie, was released in July 2023 in Japan. The film was inspired by Yoshino Genzaburo’s How Do You Live? novel from 1937, but not as a direct adaptation. Instead, it also features elements from Miyazaki’s own life. The movie had its international premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, while the US premiere came during the 61st annual New York Film Festival.
The movie has been screening in North American, Australian, and New Zealand cinemas since December. It also won the Best Animated Film award at the 77th British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA).
Official synopsis:
After losing his mother during the war, young Mahito moves to his family’s estate in the countryside. There, a series of mysterious events lead him to a secluded and ancient tower, home to a mischievous gray heron. When Mahito’s new stepmother disappears, he follows the gray heron into the tower, and enters a fantastic world shared by the living and the dead. As he embarks on an epic journey with the heron as his guide, Mahito must uncover the secrets of this world, and the truth about himself.
Source: Press release, GKIDS Films YouTube
©2023 Studio Ghibli
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