Summary
- Legendary filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki returns with his final Studio Ghibli movie, The Boy and the Heron, which promises to be a labor of love and a tearjerker from the anime grandmaster.
- The Boy and the Heron has already been released in Japan, but Studio Ghibli is intentionally underpromoting the film to avoid spoilers, although marketing is expected to ramp up closer to the U.S. release.
- The film is inspired by a Japanese book and explores how the book influences the lives of the characters, with a major musical element and a voice cast of actors and singers. The U.S. release date is set for December 8, 2023.
Legendary filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki has developed one final Studio Ghibli movie, and The Boy and the Heron is one of the most stories in 2023 cinema. Hayao Miyazaki is a beloved animator and filmmaker who created Studio Ghibli and directed classic anime movies including Howl’s Moving Castle, Spirited Away, and My Neighbor Totoro. Following the great 2013 movie The Wind Rises, Miyazaki retired from directing feature films, and he walked into the sunset with an incredible legacy, an unrivaled filmography of animated movies, and tons of accolades, including an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature for Spirited Away.
However, just like so many other retired directors, Miyazaki once again got the itch to make films. 10 years after his retirement, he returned with a new Studio Ghibli movie, The Boy and the Heron (released in Japan as How Do You Live?). The anime film promises to be the final Hayao Miyazaki movie, and it seems as if he’s going to end on an even higher note than with The Wind Rises, as the 2023 film currently has 92% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes after releasing in Japan. Between The Boy and the Heron release date, cast, and trailer, there’s plenty of news about the final Hayao Miyazaki Studio Ghibli project to digest, as its journey to hitting screens in the U.S. is almost as captivating as the movie itself.
The Latest The Boy And The Heron News
The latest news for The Boy and the Heron has been what many have been urgently waiting for since the movie’s announcement back in 2016 — a trailer and international release date. As shared by distributor GKIDs Films on their YouTube channel, the first trailer for The Boy and the Heron is here, and gives audiences their first taste of what to expect from the upcoming Hayao Miyazaki movie. It’s immediately evident from the footage just how much The Boy and the Heron has been a labor of love both for Hayao Miyazaki as the director and the animators at Studio Ghibli.
However, that’s not the only bit of news to come from GKIDS in September, as the release date for The Boy And The Heron was also confirmed. The new Hayao Miyazaki movie from Studio Ghibli will premiere in the U.S. on December 8, 2023. However, while an English dub is reportedly in the works, the trailer features the original Japanese audio. It’s unknown if The Boy and the Heron will be released in the dubbed or subtitled version initially, but it is known that it will be a theatrical release and available in IMAX. There’s been no word yet from Studio Ghibli or GKIDS on when The Boy and the Heron will be available to stream.
The Boy And The Heron Release Date
The U.S. release date for The Boy and the Heron is December 8, 2023, several months after its release in Japan on July 14, 2023. The new Studio Ghibli movie has a different name in the U.S., as it’s titled How Do You Live? in Japan. The US distribution rights were acquired by GKIDS. The Boy and the Heron has been in production since 2016, making it one of the most intensive projects Studio Ghibli has ever done. For Miyazaki, the film has been a personal endeavor, intended as a gift for his grandson with the knowledge that he won’t be around forever. The Boy and the Heron was animated by hand, partially accounting for its lengthy production cycle.
The new Hayao Miyazaki movie has already been released in Japan, but hardly anybody would know that based on how the new Studio Ghibli movie has been marketed — or, more appropriately, hasn’t been marketed. Studio Ghibli is intentionally underpromoting The Boy and the Heron, and even despite already being released in Japan. It isn’t exactly clear why the studio isn’t marketing the film, as this could negatively impact the box office, but Studio Ghibli is likely trying to keep anything from being spoiled. However, Miyazaki’s name comes with a huge guaranteed audience in Japan, and marketing will likely ramp up closer to the U.S. release.
Miyazaki’s The Boy And The Heron Cast
The new Hayao Miyazaki movie has a huge voice cast of actors and singers, hinting that there’ll be a major musical element to the film, though the main actor doesn’t have any major acting credits. Soma Santoki plays the main character, the 12-year-old Mahito Maki, in The Boy and the Heron cast. Yoshino Kimura, who is best known for playing Master Tigress in the Japanese dubs of the Kung Fu Panda series, will play Natsuko. Aimyon, a popular JPOP musician, plays Himi, and Masaki Suda, who is known for Kamen Rider W, will play The Grey Heron.
The new Studio Ghibli movie will likely have a cast that includes some A-listers dub the English-language version of the movie, just as has happened in the past, such as Christian Bale voiced the titular character in Howl’s Moving Castle. There haven’t been any updates about the English-speaking The Boy and the Heron cast, but given that the movie has found its U.S. distributor, more information will arrive sooner than later.
Miyazaki’s The Boy And The Heron Story
The Boy and the Heron story is inspired by a 1937 Japanese book known by the same title, but the movie is not a direct adaptation of the book. Instead, the novel exists within the world of the film, and the story has more to do with how the book influences the lives of the characters. While Ghibli films are often adaptations, they’re rarely straightforward ones, so this kind of twist is fitting for the final Hayao Miyazaki movie.
Producer Toshio Suzuki described The Boy and the Heron story as a “big, fantastical story” in an interview with Entertainment Weekly from 2020. The book on which the movie is based saw an English translation in 2021 and is described as being about a boy, Masato, dealing with the loss of his mother through his uncle’s journal entries, pondering big philosophical questions as he comes to terms with what’s important in life. Given that Miyazaki made the new Studio Ghibli movie for his grandchildren, it’ll likely be another tearjerker from the anime grandmaster.
Following The Boy and the Heron premiere, more story details have come to light. After endless speculation about what the bird figure on the poster represents, fans have teased more about it, as well as giving the new Studio Ghibli movie endless praise. The bird is a heron-like creature that Masato meets after relocating to the countryside, and the creature transports Masato to another universe where he learns the secret behind his mother’s death.
