At the Toronto International Film Festival 2023, Studio Ghibli’s Vice President Junichi Nishioka confirmed that The Boy and the Heron is not Miyazaki’s final film and that he is already coming into the office with new ideas, so this makes Miyazaki’s 8th time announcing retirement, he has said seven previous times in 1986, 1992, 1997, 2001, 2004, 2008 and 2013. After each time, he came and made more films.
The Boy and the Heron was written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli. The Japanese title references the 1937 novel of the same name by Genzaburō Yoshino, which appears in the film, but the film has an original story that is not connected to the novel. The voice cast includes Soma Santoki, Masaki Suda, Ko Shibasaki, Aimyon, Yoshino Kimura, Takuya Kimura, Karou Kobayashi, and Shinobu Otake. Described as a “big fantastical film”, it follows a boy named Mahito Maki (Santoki), who discovers an abandoned tower in his new town and enters a fantastical world with a talking grey heron.
The Boy and the Heron was theatrically released in Japan on July 14, 2023, by Toho, and was screened in both traditional theatres and other premium formats such as IMAX. The release of the film, which is stated to be Hayao Miyazaki’s last feature film, was noted for its intentional absence of any promotion, with Ghibli choosing not to release any trailers, images, synopsis or casting details of the film in advance of its Japanese premiere with the exception of a single poster. The film received critical acclaim and grossed over $52 million in Japan as of September 8th, 2023.
Now waiting for more from him.
