Hayao Miyazaki’s mystery final film ‘The Boy and the Heron’ FINALLY gets a trailer and US premiere date
‘The Boy and the Heron’ is last first film since 2013's 'The Wind Rises' and also his last film
September 06, 2023
Studio Ghibli has unveiled the trailer for upcoming animated fantasy epic, The Boy and the Heron, directed by Hayao Miyazaki, marking his first feature film since 2013's The Wind Rises. The movie is scheduled for a U.S. theatrical release on December 8.
After its Japanese premiere, the film is set to open the Toronto International Film Festival, becoming the first animated or Japanese film to do so. It will also be featured at the New York Film Festival.
Prior to its Japanese release, the movie was shrouded in secrecy, with minimal promotional material, including only a mysterious heron image. The new trailer marks the first official footage made available to the public.
The film's official logline describes it as follows: "A young boy named Mahito, longing for his mother, ventures into a world shared by the living and the dead. There, death concludes, and life embarks on a new beginning. This semi-autobiographical fantasy, paying homage to friendship, explores themes of life, death, and creation from the imaginative mind of Hayao Miyazaki."
In the United States, The Boy and the Heron will be screened in its original Japanese with English subtitles, as well as in a new English-language version.
The Japanese voice cast includes Soma Santoki as Mahito and Masaki Suda as the Grey Heron, alongside Takuya Kimura, Aimyon, Kô Shibasaki, Yoshino Kimura, Shôhei Hino, and Jun Kunimura. An English dub is also in the works.
Miyazaki, the acclaimed director responsible for beloved Japanese animated classics such as Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, and Howl's Moving Castle, among others, has returned with The Boy and the Heron.
The film, released under the Studio Ghibli banner, is his most recent work since The Wind Rises in 2013 and is expected to be his final film before retirement.
