Miyazaki Hayao’s “The Boy and the Heron,” which recently won the Oscar for best animated feature film, will head to global streaming giant Netflix later this year, excluding the U.S. and Japan.
The hand-drawn, critically acclaimed fantasy adventure film is part of a renewed worldwide catalog deal between Netflix and the Japanese producer Studio Ghibli, sales agent Goodfellas and independent distributor GKids. No release date was disclosed.
It was recently confirmed that “The Boy and the Heron” will go into theatrical release in mainland China from April 3 and that it will also enjoy theatrical rereleases in the U.S. and Japan.
Netflix, Studio Ghibli and Goodfellas predecessor Wild Bunch International struck a multiyear deal in February 2020. The Netflix agreement excludes the U.S. — where Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max holds streaming rights on Studio Ghibli films — and Studio Ghibli’s home market of Japan. In the U.S., it was recently announced that “The Boy and the Heron” will stream on Max after the theatrical rerelease. That too represented the extension of a 2020 deal that made Max (previously known as HBO Max), the U.S. home of Studio Ghibli titles.
In international territories, Netflix will continue to stream 22 Studio Ghibli films, including such beloved classics as “Spirited Away,” “My Neighbor Totoro,” “Ponyo,” “Princess Mononoke,” “Arrietty,” “Kiki’s Delivery Service” and “The Tale of the Princess Kaguya.” The films are available with subtitles in 28 languages and are dubbed in some 20 languages.
The Oscar for “The Boy and the Heron” is Miyazaki’s second, after he won the animated feature prize in 2003 for “Spirited Away.” He also accepted an honorary Academy Award in 2014 for “exceptional contributions to cinema.”
“The Boy and the Heron” was released in Japan in July last year. It opened across much of the rest of the world from October and racked up a global total of $168 million, according to Box Office Mojo. Some $46 million of that came from North America, making it GKids’ highest-grossing film and the biggest Japanese original animation in the North American (aka domestic) market.
