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Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron Wins New York Film Critics Award

The New York Film Critics Circle announced the winners of their 89th annual awards on Thursday, with Hayao Miyazaki's latest feature film The Boy and the Heron (Kimi-tachi wa Dō Ikiru ka, or literally How Do You Live?) winning for Best Animated Film. The film competed against Makoto Shinkai's Suzume, as well as Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Robot Dreams, and Elemental.

GKIDS licensed the film, and will release it in North American theaters on December 8, with preview engagements on November 22. Screenings will include the English dub alongside screenings with Japanese audio with English subtitles.

The film had its international premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), as the event's opening film on September 7 at Roy Thomson Hall. This marked the first time the festival opened with an animated film as well as the first time for a Japanese film. The San Sebastian Film Festival (SSIFF) screened the European premiere in Donostia-San Sebastián's Kursaal Auditorium in Spain on September 22 after the event's opening gala. This marked Miyazaki's fourth film to screen at SSIFF, and the first time his film participated at the event's Official Selection. The festival honored Miyazaki with the Donostia Award for career achievement. The film opened the 2023 Animation Is Film Festival, which ran at Hollywood's TCL Chinese 6 Theatres from October 18 to October 22. The Independent Film Festival Boston screened the film on October 23. The Miami Film Festival's Gems 2023 event will screen the film will on November 4 at 4:30 p.m. EDT at Silverspot Cinema 12.

The film opened in Japan on July 14, and sold 1.003 million tickets and earned about US$13.2 million in its first three days in Japan. The film sold 1.353 million tickets and earned 2.149 billion yen (about US$15.53 million) in its Friday-Monday long weekend (July 17 was the Marine Day holiday in Japan). The Boy and the Heron has earned a cumulative total of 8,333,397,800 yen (about US$55.60 million). It is the #74 highest-grossing film ever in Japan.

The film is the first Studio Ghibli film to get a simultaneous IMAX release. The film is also screening in Dolby Atmos, Dolby Cinema, and DTS:X.

Miyazaki is credited with the original work, in addition to directing the film and writing the script. Joe Hisaishi (Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro) composed the music. Kenshi Yonezu (Chainsaw Man, My Hero Academia, March comes in like a lion) performs the theme song "Chikyūgi" (Globe).

Sources: Gold Derby (Paul Sheehan), Variety (Clayton Davis)