WTK

The Boy and the Heron getting released on home video (4K UHD, BD, DVD) in Japan (July 3)

Based on currently retailer listings: English audio and English subtitles are only listed for Blu-ray & DVD (not 4K UHD). This will be Studio Ghibli's first 4K UHD title. Retailer specs are likely correct (Disney Japan should list this soon) - EDIT: confirmed by Disney Japan https://www.waltdisneystudios.jp/kimitachi/products.

4K UHD hasn't been confirmed by GKIDS yet. If 4K UHD rights is available, it will likely be released at a future date (Blu-ray and/or DVD gets released first sometime this year). This is common approach from the Japanese companies like Toei and Toho.

https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0D25TGHTM
https://www.hmv.co.jp/en/news/article/240423132/

WTK

via GKIDS x Shout! Studios:

The Boy and the Heron (4K UHD/BD SteelBook LE) - 124 minutes - $44.98 - 7/9/24
- https://store.gkids.com/products/the...eron-steelbook
- https://shoutfactory.com/collections...tion-steelbook
- https://store.crunchyroll.com/produc...663246599.html
- The Boy and the Heron (4K UHD/BD) - 124 minutes - $39.98 - 7/9/24
- https://store.gkids.com/products/4k-...-and-the-heron
- https://shoutfactory.com/collections...-and-the-heron
- https://store.crunchyroll.com/produc...663246582.html
- The Boy and the Heron (BD/DVD) - 124 minutes - $34.98 - 7/9/24
- https://store.gkids.com/products/the-boy-and-the-heron
- https://shoutfactory.com/products/th...40908228460678
- https://store.crunchyroll.com/produc...663246551.html
-

milo bloom

I"ll probably grab the regular 4K release, not quite steelbook level for me.

WTK

A 4 seconds crowd shot from Hayao Miyazaki's The Wind Rises (2013) that took animator Yamamori Eiji 15 months to complete.
How one goes about animating such a complex shot infused with so much zest & energy boggles the mind, but it is an absolute marvel to behold.

Also done on paper…

WTK

Hayao Miyazaki and the Heron by Kaku Arakawa - trailer (with English subtitles)

Hayao Miyazaki and the Heron is a two-hour documentary that chronicles the making of The Boy and the Heron, filmed with exclusive access to Studio Ghibli across an astonishing seven years. It is also a record of the collaboration between filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki and producer Toshio Suzuki as they perform an intricate dance of deception and friendship, mirroring that of Mahito and the Heron, as Suzuki pushes Miyazaki ever further into his creativity, ultimately delivering an unprecedented masterpiece.

Directed by: Kaku ARAKAWA
Year of production: 2024
Country: Japan
Duration: 120

- https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f...and-the-heron/
- https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/m...akawa-trailer/

***

https://variety.com/2024/film/news/s...es-1236007884/ (May 18)

Japanese Animation Powerhouse Studio Ghibli Makes History With Honorary Palme d’Or at Cannes

When Studio Ghibli receives its honorary Palme d’Or May 19 at the Cannes Film Festival, the creative home to Hayao Miyazaki — arguably the most admired and influential living animation director — will make history.

This marks the first time an honorary Palme d’Or has been given to a group, which sits well with the helmer. Miyazaki’s longtime collaborator, producer and co-founder of the studio, Toshio Suzuki, believes the animators is not comfortable with being singled out for the honors surrounding his filmmaking.

“He knows a large group of people have helped make each one of his films,” said Suzuki through a translator. “Miyazaki is typically Japanese, which is to say he is very shy. When he learned this award was for our studio as a group, he was very happy with that. It takes a long time to make his movies and many people help make the movies.”

Even if Suzuki and Miyazaki are deferential about the award, Cannes president Iris Knobloch and general delegate Thierry Fremaux were effusive with their statement: “For the first time in our history, it’s not a person but an institution that we have chosen to celebrate. Like all the icons of the seventh art, these characters populate our imaginations with prolific, colorful universes and sensitive, engaging narrations. With Ghibli, Japanese animation stands as one of the great adventures of cinephilia, between tradition and modernity.”

The Tokyo-based Studio Ghibli, which was launched in the mid-1980s, is where Miyazaki, one of the studio’s co-founders, made his Oscar-winning 2023 animated feature “The Boy and the Heron,” “Princess Mononoke” and “Spirited Away,” also an Oscar-winner for animated feature and one of the highest-grossing films in Japan’s history. The studio is also known for the film “My Neighbor Totoro,” which inspired the studio’s mascot, a large, rounded spirit whose shape borrows from racoons, dogs and cats.

In the early days of Studio Ghibli, the founders just wanted to keep their company afloat and didn’t have their eye on creating the kinds of internationally acclaimed masterpieces that eventually came to define their work. They were simply focused on making one film after the other.

“We were too busy [to think about those kinds of goals],” laughed Suzuki. “We were making the first film and we thought maybe if we can make this film and it succeeds then we can make the next film. But we knew that if we fail and the movie is bad or if no one likes it then that was the end of us. So we were just focusing on that first film.”

While Miyazaki has been one of the studio’s most active creators, they’ve also released films by studio co-founder Isao Takahata (“Grave of the Fireflies”) and Hiroyuki Morita (“The Cat Returns”). Hiromasa Yonebayashi, whose film “When Marnie Was There” received an Academy Award nomination for animated feature, began his career at Studio Ghibli with “The Secret World of Arrietty.”
Though Miyazaki once announced his retirement, Suzuki doesn’t believe the helmer will ever be able to completely walk away from the art he loves so much. He’s not sure when the next film will begin since Miyazaki puts so much into his work.

“He sort of tortures himself when he makes a movie,” said Suzuki. “He works very hard and thinks a long time about the kind of movie he wants to make. He will never say the word retire again. But I think it will be some time before he starts again. He needs to rest from making ‘The Boy and the Heron’ because it’s a very long process that takes many years.”

***

https://deadline.com/2024/05/gkids-h...on-1235916478/ (May 19)

Hayao Miyazaki’s Oscar Win For ‘The Boy And The Heron’ Is A Game-Changer For Animation And Gkids Is Ready To Reap The Rewards

When Hayao Miyazaki’s long-awaited and supposed swansong The Boy and the Heron opened at No. 1 at the North American box office last December with a record-breaking $12.8 million tally, it was not only the first original anime title to achieve such a feat, but it was the biggest ever opening for U.S. distributor Gkids. It kickstarted what would be a whirlwind few months for the now 16-year-old company as it took the Studio Ghibli film, (which had opened the Toronto Film Festival in September) to an enormous $46.7 million box office gross (more than double their initial projections) in North America and, later a Best Animation win at the Oscars.

“It was the right film for the right time,” says Gkids president Dave Jesteadt. “The Boy and the Heron was Miyazaki’s first film in 10 years, and I think that a normal concern would have been if audiences had forgotten him, but it was quite the opposite. I think his time away, from The Wind Rises and The Boy and the Heron, coincided with Japanese animation’s stratospheric rise in popularity in America and yet, there was no new Miyazaki film to feed that new audience.”

Gkids founder and CEO Eric Beckman says that across the last few years, “Miyazaki’s legend has grown” thanks to the globalization of content. “There are few people — not just in animation or filmmaking but in any form or medium — that have risen to the ‘godlike’ status that he has. When we first got the film and we were positioning it, we didn’t want to compare Miyazaki to other animators or celebrated filmmakers. If we’re going to compare him to anybody, it’s Michael Jordan, Albert Einstein, Van Gogh or Mozart. I think a lot of people really feel that he’s on of that level of characters that has changed the medium that they work in.”

But it takes a special — and loyal — kind of company to handle what is touted as Miyazaki’s most personal film to date, and this result is by no means an overnight success, but rather the product of a carefully cultivated near 25-year relationship between the Gkids founders and Ghibli. Japan’s preeminent animation studio has long had a reputation for establishing deep-rooted relationships with partners it trusts, and for Beckman, this relationship predates Gkids when he was running the New York International Children’s Film Festival. There, he programmed films such as Kiki’s Delivery Service in 1999 and curated a Miyazaki retrospective the following year.

The festival, which received more than 3,000 submissions a year and was considered the de facto entry point for a swathe of “amazing animation” that was entering the film space, became the birthplace for Gkids when Beckman noticed there was a huge gap in the marketplace for adult animation that skewed from the usual “four-quadrant family pictures” dominated by Hollywood majors.

“It wasn’t a huge conceptual leap from a film festival that was very mission-driven to a distributor that was very mission-driven,” says Beckman. “The only real shift that happened pretty much immediately was that instead of just being for kids, we shifted to animation for adults very early.”

Since its inception in 2008 with Jesteadt, Gkids has scored 13 Best Animated Feature Oscar nominations and six Golden Globe nominations including Cartoon Saloon’s The Secret of Kells and Wolfwalkers, 2012’s Spanish animated pic Chico & Rita, and Ghibli’s The Tale of the Princess Kaguya and When Marnie Was There. “We were filling a market need and it was exciting to bring these films that nobody was distributing in the States and be supported by critics and fans and key theatrical exhibitors,” says Beckman.

The company is in Cannes this year with Directors’ Fortnight title Ghost Cat Anzu, from helmers Yoko Kuno and Nobuhiro Yamashita, a Japanese-French co-production that Gkids exec produced. It’s the third project that the company has exec produced, following The Breadwinner and Wolfwalkers and it’s a role the company will look to expand into in the future. “We’re nimble and boutique and that means that we can be opportunistic — in the positive sense of the word,” says Beckman. “The company has a lot of embedded options for growth, and we will look at those as they come along and as they make sense to us.”

Reflecting on The Boy and the Heron’s success, Beckman is reminded of the first time he saw a rough cut of the film with no dialogue or sound and just English subtitles. “I started crying five minutes in,” he says. “It’s something to be thankful for and joyful for and I think a lot of people who are core fans felt that, so setting it up initially wasn’t that hard — you just had to remind people of what a master he was.”

Both Jesteadt and Beckman credit the audience for “grappling” with one of Miyazaki’s deeper and more philosophical films.

Looking ahead, Beckman believes this is just the beginning of the potential of the genre. “I believe R-rated, $100 million box office animated films are in our future,” he says. “It’s a hugely cross-pollinating, creative period with lots of artistic and commercial potential and I’m very excited. I feel like we’ve entered the beginning of a new era.”

WTK

Gorō Miyazaki receives a rousing standing ovation as he enters the Grand Lumiere where he will be presented with Studio Ghibli’s Honorary Palme d'or #Cannes2024

***

Gorō Miyazaki reacts to the ovation


“I don’t understand any of this but thank you,” Hayao Miyazaki jokes in a video message he sent in his absence

***

Spanish filmmaker J. A. Bayona hands Gorō Miyazaki the Honorary Palme d'or

WTK

PALME D'OR D'HONNEUR - STUDIO GHIBLI - Cérémonie - Version Originale - Cannes 2024



***

Gorō Miyazaki - Honorary Palme d'or for Studio Ghibli at #Cannes2024 ✨

"Ghibli was created 40 years ago by Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata and Tokuma Shoten. They are the studio's greatest contributors, but through this award I would like to associate all the work of the teams who have worked for us. The honor also goes to all those who have enjoyed our films. Thank you to all Ghibli fans!"


Gorō Miyazaki has a little message for all Studio Ghibli fans 💛 What's your favorite Ghibli? #Cannes2024

Ash Ketchum

Since Noriko Hidaka came to the U.S. to appear at the Animazement anime con in Raleigh, NC over the Memorial Day weekand and a friend of mine got to meet her and get her to sign various things, I've been on a MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO kick. Hidaka was the voice of Satsuki, the older sister, in the film. I've since re-watched three different versions of the film (original English dub, Disney dub and VHS fan-sub with some very different translations), but more importantly I found a file of newspaper clippings I'd saved covering TOTORO's theatrical release in New York in 1993, including five reviews, three of them surprisingly negative. I compiled all this into a new blog post: "My Neighbor Totoro Comes to America."
Here's the link:

https://briandanacamp.wordpress.com/...-york-in-1993/

fujishig

Before even reading the negative reviews I knew what they would say: the plot is overly simplistic, it might not entertain people, etc. Hogwash (though did chuckle at the Japanimation line), but I think I mentioned in this or some other thread on this forum that I also felt that some young kids would be turned off by these kinds of things and fail to grasp the "little things." My worries proved unfounded though because even my youngest just adores the movie wholeheartedly. (Surprisingly, her next favorite Ghibli movie is the relatively complex "When Marnie Was There"). The Ghibli movies are being shown in the theaters again via special engagement so they had a fairly large Totoro poster in the window, and she was delighted to take a picture with it. Unfortunately, when I asked her if she wanted to catch it in the theater the look in her eyes was basically "why, we have it at home."

Also, that Warriors of the Wind poster was in my local video store and I always wanted to see it (cool, looks like Star Wars!). At the time I already knew of Miyazaki and Nausicaa and I had no idea that that poster was for that movie until way later. I mean yes Nausicaa is kinda there floating in the corner but man the marketing of that one.

fujishig

Is there a Ghibli cameo in that One Piece Anniversary clip, WTK ?

On a related note (to that at least) my son finally got up to the Fishman Island Arc... so about halfway through because that arc aired in 2012, and it's episode 568 or 1107 (and counting). That arc came out before hie was born...

WTK

Oops. Post is moved to the legal streaming thread. I'm surprised that this doesn't happen more often with my anime posts.

fujishig

I also didn't realize until I read that blog that you were a contributor to Animerica way back when, Ash. Cool.

fujishig

Boy and the Heron dropped on digital (at least on itunes) yesterday. My preorder finally converted.

WTK

https://press.wbd.com/us/media-relea...ax-september-6

Studio Ghibli’s Oscar®-winning and Golden Globe®-winning film THE BOY AND THE HERON will make its U.S. streaming debut exclusively on FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6 on Max. This hand-drawn, original story is Hayao Miyazaki’s first feature film in 10 years that is both written and directed by the Academy Award®️-winning director. THE BOY AND THE HERON joins the rest of the Studio Ghibli library on Max as part of an exclusive multiyear U.S. deal announced earlier this year.

WTK

https://about.netflix.com/en/news/gr...s-september-16

Grave of the Fireflies streaming September 16 on Netflix https://www.netflix.com/title/557010 (previously streamed on Hulu)

WTK

Miyazaki, Spirit of Nature (documentary) premiering at Venice Film Festival
- https://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema...24-08-31-17-15
- https://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema...t-de-la-nature

WTK

The Boy and the Heron is streaming on Max https://play.max.com/movie/a654e7de-...4-73b5060e6dcc


EDIT: Hayao Miyazaki and the Heron (documentary) is also streaming on Max https://play.max.com/movie/69bfebfa-...2-13b0a61ea1a7

WTK

The Boy and the Heron | Official Trailer | Netflix Anime

Studio Ghibli's critically acclaimed and Oscar-winning fantasy adventure, The Boy and the Heron, premieres October 7 on Netflix.

Watch on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81725555

***

https://about.netflix.com/en/news/th...ound-the-world

As part of its ongoing effort to expand its broad lineup of animated films from Japan, Netflix announced that ‘The Boy and the Heron’, the Oscar®-winning and Golden Globe®-winning animated film from Japan’s Studio Ghibli, will be exclusively distributed on service beginning October 7, excluding Japan and the United States. (In France, the film will be available in 2025.)

WTK

New poster reveal! 🔥

Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli's towering fantasy HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE returns to theatres nationwide for its 20th Anniversary September 26-October 3
https://gkids.com/films/howls-moving-castle/tickets/

WTK

Grave of the Fireflies is now streaming: https://www.netflix.com/title/557010

Cellar Door

Great--a whole new generation of children can be traumatized.

WTK

The Japanese title for Grave of the Fireflies is 火垂るの墓 except “fireflies” is written as 火垂る instead of 蛍. Both are pronounced hotaru but 蛍 is the insect whereas 火垂る means “fire falling”

WTK

https://variety.com/2024/artisans/ne...ki-1236150361/

‘Howl’s Moving Castle’ Turns 20: Supervising Animator Akihiko Yamashita Reflects on His Relationship With Hayao Miyazaki and Bringing the Studio Ghibli Classic to Life

Before the initial release of “Howl’s Moving Castle” 20 years ago, Akihiko Yamashita spent nearly two years working as the supervising animator on the Studio Ghibli film.

“I really have no idea how many pages of drawings there were or how many cels we drew. I just know that we worked a huge amount and we drew a huge amount,” Yamashita tells Variety through an interpreter. “Nowadays, we talk about work-life balance, but in those days, there was no concept of that.”

Yamashita first worked with animation maestro Hayao Miyazaki as a key animator on 2001’s “Spirited Away.” Over the past 20-plus years, he has served various roles on Studio Ghibli films, including as an assistant supervising animator on “Ponyo” (2008) and a key animator on “The Wind Rises” (2013) and “The Boy and the Heron” (2023).

Yamashita recalls working 14 hours a day on “Howl’s Moving Castle” during the last six months of production, noting that there were “no Sundays” nor “time off during the week.” However, after Miyazaki’s film was complete, the supervising animator received three months of paid leave.

“I realized that I could only do this because I was in my 30s in those days,” Yamashita says. “I wouldn’t be able to do that now at all.”

Based on Dianna Wynne Jones’ 1986 fantasy novel of the same name, “Howl’s Moving Castle” follows a young milliner named Sophie, who is magically transformed into a 90-year-old woman by the Witch of the Waste. On a quest to break the curse, the elderly Sophie takes refuge in a moving castle owned by a charismatic wizard named Howl.

In celebration of the 20th anniversary of “Howl’s Moving Castle,” now playing in theaters until Oct. 3 as part of Ghibli Fest, Yamashita spoke with Variety via an interpreter about his relationship with Miyazaki and bringing the animated fantasy film to life.

How does the animation process for a Hayao Miyazaki film differ from other animated projects you’ve worked on?

First of all, he is somebody who actually draws himself. From the layout to the storyboards — everything — he draws it himself. And let’s say a key animator has drawn some animation. If he doesn’t like it, then he will change it and draw a rough drawing. Then, the key animators and other animators have to bring that to the final stage.

Another is the way he thinks about animation. Other animation directors use animation to tell a story, but he tells the story through the animation. It’s all built into his storytelling.

What was the character design process like for this film?

In terms of Miyazaki’s method of working, he has rough sketches of — this isn’t necessarily used in the animation — but it’s his overall image of what he thinks the story and the film should be. This includes the images of the characters, the costumes, the facial expressions, the hair. For example, Howl being a blonde man — those kinds of images he draws, and then the animators need to figure out how to animate those kinds of images. In terms of animating the characters, I draw many pages, like 20 pages for a character, and how that character should be expressed. For this one, we had a little time, so I spent a month or so drawing and getting my hand used to the kinds of character drawings that would be required for animating the film.

Howl’s castle has such an intricate and detailed design. Could you describe the castle’s animation process? How many people were involved?

I’m not sure I can count. There were many, many people who worked on it. In terms of drawing such a large item like that castle, there would usually be a base design for it, and then various animators could draw from that base design. But in this case, there was no such initial base design. So there might be one scene where it was drawn one way and then another scene where the little house wasn’t in the same place. But somehow, even with these angle changes that may show different things, it looked like one castle in the end.

There may be different things stuck onto the castle, but as long as there’s the mouth and the eyes and the chimneys, then people just perceive it as the same thing. So, we take advantage of that sort of misconception on the part of the audience to draw slightly different things.

The music in “Howl’s Moving Castle” is one of the most beloved scores in film history. What was the collaborative process like between Hayao Miyazaki and composer Joe Hisaishi for the score? And were you involved in any way?

Those of us who are working on the animation don’t touch the music at all. That all happens at a higher level, at the top level, between Mr. Miyazaki and Mr. Hisaishi. We heard some of the demo-type pieces in terms of the image that was desired during our production work, but I didn’t hear the complete score until the film was finished. At that point, I was probably an audience member as well.

How did you feel watching the film for the first time with the music?

With the music, the impression of what a film is about can change drastically. Of course, I knew the story and the actual drawings and animation, but until the music comes in, it’s hard to tell the depth of the story. And the result can be good or bad, depending on how the music fits into the film. In this case, I think it was wonderful because “Merry-Go-Round of Life” was the theme of this film. It gave a real depth to the story and the animation.

What was your favorite scene to animate? And was there was a particular scene that was difficult to work on?

Of course, the whole thing was rather difficult. It took a lot of work, but it was also very interesting and fun. The one scene that I feel really worked well was one that showed how Howl was kind of a sexy character. And it’s the scene where, after Sophie enters the castle, and the next morning, Howl returns and comes right up to Sophie — very close to her — and says, “Who are you?” At that point, I had drawn a rough sketch with the movement, and I showed it to Mr. Miyazaki. There should have been more development and growth to that scene, but he said, “No, this is fine. This is good,” and, “We can move on to the next scene.” So that’s a scene where Howl is in profile, and I thought that worked really well, and I was very glad that it worked out well. It showed a different aspect of Howl — that he was a very attractive, sexy person.

What about your favorite character to animate?

Probably Howl because he is a handsome man and very attractive, but in terms of his inner self, he’s not that attractive. There are many people who are really good at their work and at their job, and they outwardly present a really fantastic image. But when they get home, they’re just slobs and sloppy, and they’re not really somebody you would look up to. So, that kind of duality interests me. The Witch of the Waste is also like that — she has this two-sidedness that also attracts me.

What is your relationship like with Mr. Miyazaki? Has it changed over the years?

I have only a workplace relationship with Mr. Miyazaki. Actually, Mr. Miyazaki is my mother’s age, so I don’t necessarily have a master and apprentice relationship or a boss and underling kind of relationship, but it is a workplace relationship. And I think it’s hard to get close to Mr. Miyazaki.

But in terms of the casual conversations that we have within the workplace, we talk a lot about really local, inconsequential kinds of things. I used to live rather close to where Mr. Miyazaki lives, and I would sometimes run into Mr. Miyazaki and his wife on their walks in the neighborhood.

You’ve worked on many of Miyazaki’s films over the years, including “The Boy and the Heron,” which he said is his final film. Do you believe that’s true?

In terms of feature films, I think that probably is his last film. But he has directed eight short films that are shown at the Ghibli Museum. The museum has shown ten films so far, and I’ve made one film [“A Sumo Wrestler’s Tail”]. I would like him to make two more films to make it 12, and then I would have some work to do as well.

Why 12?

At the Ghibli Museum, one film is shown for a month. So if there were 12 films, then they would be able to work out the year with the 12 films.