After mesmerizing the audience in Japan, The Boy and the Heron is getting an international release on streaming. The Academy Award-winning film, directed by legendary filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, is one of the most expensive Japanese films ever produced.
The movie tells the story of a 12-year-old boy who moves to the countryside after his mother’s death and encounters a talking heron who tells him that his mother is still alive. The boy then reaches an abandoned tower in search of his mother and enters a fantastic world.
The Boy and the Heron to be Released on Max in September
The Boy and the Heron’s streaming release date in the US has been set for September 6th, 2024. The film will premiere exclusively on Max. However, for viewers outside the US and Japan, the movie will be streaming on Netflix, the premiere date for which is yet to be announced.
The animated flick was released in theaters in Japan on July 14th, 2023, and earned $294.2 million at the box office, becoming the fifth-highest-grossing film in the history of Japanese cinema. The hand-drawn film took around seven years to be produced and earned the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature this year.
The Film Features the Voices of Christian Bale and Robert Pattinson
The English language version of The Boy and the Heron features a star-studded voice cast, including Robert Pattinson, Dave Bautista, Christian Bale, Luca Padovan, Florence Pugh, Karen Fukuhara, Gemma Chan, Mark Hamill, Willem Dafoe, Barbara Rosenblat, Karen Takizawa, Melora Harte, and Barbara Goodson.
The official synopsis of the film reads, “After losing his mother during the war, young Mahito moves to his family’s estate in the countryside. There, a series of mysterious events lead him to a secluded and ancient tower, home to a mischievous gray heron.”
“When Mahito’s new stepmother disappears, he follows the gray heron into the tower and enters a fantastic world shared by the living and the dead. As he embarks on an epic journey with the heron as his guide, Mahito must uncover the secrets of this world, and the truth about himself,” it reads further.
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