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Netflix Streams The Boy and the Heron Film Outside of U.S., Japan

Entertainment news website Deadline reported on Thursday that Netflix will stream Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki's latest feature film The Boy and the Heron (Kimi-tachi wa Dō Ikiru ka) globally outside Japan and the United States. The allocation of the license is part of a new deal between Netflix, Goodfellas, and GKIDS. An additional 22 Studio Ghibli titles will continue to stream globally on Netflix as part of the deal. The titles include Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Arrietty, Kiki's Delivery Service, My Neighbor Totoro, and The Tale of the Princess Kaguya.

GKIDS also announced the schedule for the Studio Ghibli Fest 2024 that will run from April 27-December 11.

The film won Best Animated Feature Film in the 96th Academy Awards ceremony on March 10. This is Miyazaki's second film to win after Spirited Away in 2003. He also received nominations for Howl's Moving Castle and The Wind Rises.

The film won Animation of the Year in the 47th annual Japan Academy Film Prizes and won the Best Motion Picture - Animated category at the 81st Golden Globes Awards earlier this year. The film also won awards from the Annie Awards (for storyboarding and character animation) and the British Academy Film Awards (for animated film). The Alliance of Women Film Journalists gave it the Best Animated Film award in its EDA Awards on December 31. The 78th Mainichi Film Awards announced ahead of its February 14 ceremony that the film would receive the Noburou Oofuji Award, which honors animated works that offer new forms of creative expression.

The film opened in Japan in July 2023, 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). It is the #71 highest-grossing film ever in Japan, and the third highest-grossing domestic film in Japan in 2023 with an 8.66 billion yen (about US$61.4 million) gross.

The film ranked at #1 in its opening weekend in the U.S. box office, with an earning of US$12,836,313 in its first three days. Variety reported that the film is the "first original anime production" to top the U.S. box office.

The Max streaming service has been offering GKIDS' "entire Studio Ghibli film library" since 2020.

Sources: Deadline (Anthony D'Alessandro), press release