Hayao Miyazaki’s latest movie, The Boy and the Heron has continuously been winning big in different award-giving bodies. After nabbing the Best Picture Award at 2023’s Florida Film Critic Circle, it now takes home the Best Motion Picture – Animated award at the recent Golden Globes 2024. The film has also made history with this win for being the first anime to do so.
The Boy and the Heron has become the first Japanese animated movie to win in the said category for about 17 years since it started in 2007. It’s also Hayao Miyazaki’s first Golden Globe after The Wind Rises got the Best Motion Picture – Non-English Language nomination in 2014. In addition, it’s the first Golden Globes win for Studio Ghibli and GKIDS, which distributes the film in the U.S.
The critically acclaimed movie defeats big titles in the same category, like Makoto Shinkai’s Suzume, Super Mario Bros. Movie, Elemental, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and Wish. It was also nominated for Best Original Score but lost to Ludwig Goransson for his work on Oppenheimer.
Studio Ghibli Reacts to The Boy and the Heron Golden Globes Win
Studio Ghibli has released its official statement about The Boy and The Heron’s big Golden Globes win. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), its producer and co-founder, Toshio Suzuki, was happy to hear the news and said it was a “very special feeling” to nab a Golden Globe for the first time.
He then wished that this recognition would bring everyone a smile after a series of tragic earthquakes and accidents struck Japan since the year began. Together with GKIDS, Suzuki hoped the movie would earn further success and thanked Golden Globes for the honor.
Who are the cast members of The Boy and the Heron
Soma Santoki and Luca Padovan lead The Boy and the Heron as Mahito in Japanese and English versions. For other cast members, you can check the list below:
Masaki Suda/Robert Pattison as the Gray Heron
Ko Shibasaki/Florence Pugh as Kiriko
Aimyon/Karen Fukuhara as Himi
Yoshino Kimura/Gemma Chan as Natusko
Takuya Kimura/Christian Bale as Shoichi
Jun Kunimura as the Great King of the Parrots
Kaoru Kobayashi/William Dafoe as the Old Pelican
Jun Kunimura/Dave Bautista as The Parakeet King
Shinobu Otake as Aiko
Keiko Takeshita as Izumi
Jun Fubuki as Utako
Sawako Agawa as Eriko
Karen Takizawa as Warawara
What is The Boy and the Heron about?
The Boy and the Heron is a semi-autobiographical fantasy about life, death, creation, and friendship from the mind of Hayao Miyazaki himself. It follows the story of a young boy named Mahito, who has been yearning to feel his mother’s love once again after dying during the war. In desperation, he travels to a world where both the living and the dead live, where death ends and life finds a new beginning.
You can read the synopsis below:
A young boy named Mahito, yearning for his mother, ventures into a world shared by the living and the dead. There, death comes to an end, and life finds a new beginning. A semi-autobiographical fantasy about life, death, and creation, in tribute to friendship, from the mind of Hayao Miyazaki
Yoshino Genzaburo’s 1937 novel How Do You Live? inspires the film, though it’s not a direct adaptation. It was released in Japan in July 2023, while it premiered internationally at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival and in the U.S. at the 61st annual New York Film Festival. It was released in North America, Australia, and New Zealand on December 8. It has now made over $39 million at the box office, making it the fourth highest-grossing anime movie in the U.S., per Box Office Mojo.
Have you seen The Boy and the Heron? This is definitely worth watching as one of Studio Ghibli’s highest-grossing and critically acclaimed movies.
