"96th Academy Awards": Hayao Miyazaki's "The Boy and the Heron" Wins Second Best Animated Feature
Studio Ghibli's Hayao Miyazaki's first film in ten years, "The Boy and the Heron", won the Best Animated Feature at the 96th Academy Awards held in Los Angeles local time on the evening of the 10th, morning of the 11th in Japan.
Hayao Miyazaki's "The Boy and the Heron" (C) 2023 Studio Ghibli
This marks the fourth nomination and the second win for a film by Hayao Miyazaki, following "Spirited Away" in 2002, "Howl's Moving Castle" in 2005, and "The Wind Rises" in 2014, making it the first Japanese work to win since "Spirited Away", 21 years ago.
"The Boy and the Heron", directed by Hayao Miyazaki, produced by Toshio Suzuki (Photography: Nobuyoshi Araki)
Journey of "The Boy and the Heron"
Shortly after the release of "The Wind Rises" in Japan in September 2013, Miyazaki announced his retirement from feature film production. However, unable to suppress his creative urge leading to this work, he retracted his retirement and spent about seven years working on this new feature, which was released on July 14, 2023, as his first new feature in ten years. The film drew attention for its unusual approach of withholding information about the movie's content until its release, aiming for audiences to watch it with a fresh perspective, according to producer Toshio Suzuki.
Still screening in theaters as of March 10, 2024, the film has been a blockbuster hit, grossing 8.84 billion yen as of the end of January 2024. It recently won the Best Animation Film Award at the "47th Japan Academy Prize".
Looking overseas, the film's English title "The Boy and the Heron" featured an all-star English voice cast including Christian Bale, Dave Bautista, Gemma Chan, Willem Dafoe, Karen Fukuhara, Mark Hamill, Robert Pattinson, and Florence Pugh, attracting significant attention before its release.
Last year, it was selected as the opening film for the "48th Toronto International Film Festival," marking the first time a Japanese film and an animated film has been chosen for this honor. It also saw successive submissions to international film festivals abroad.
Pre-screenings began on November 22 in four theaters in New York and Los Angeles, setting a record for the highest average box office per theater for a Miyazaki film in America. Favorable reviews from The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and other media helped boost audience interest, leading to the film winning the Best Animated Film at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards announced on December 1, despite not yet being released nationwide.
Upon its release across 2205 theaters in America and Canada on December 8, it achieved an opening box office (including previews) of approximately $12.97 million (about 1.9 billion yen) over the first three days (December 8-10), marking the first time a Japanese original film ranked first in the North American weekend box office. On December 10, it won Best Animation at the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards and Best Animated Film at the Boston Film Critics Association Awards. On January 7, it became the first Japanese work to win the Best Animated Feature at the "81st Golden Globe Awards". Although "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" took the most prestigious feature-length award at the "51st Annie Awards" on February 17, it won for Best Storyboarding and Best Character Animation in the feature category. On February 18, it became the first Japanese work to win the Animated Film Award at the "77th British Academy Film Awards". Finally, it triumphed at the "96th Academy Awards", securing the Best Animated Feature award.
