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The Boy and the Heron Film Wins Golden Globes' Best Animated Film Award (Updated)
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
The film competed against Makoto Shinkai's Suzume (Suzume no Tojimari), Universal Pictures' The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Sony Pictures' Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and Disney's Elemental and Wish.
The Boy and the Heron and its composer Joe Hisaishi also received a nomination for Best Original Score - Motion Picture, but did not win the award. The song "Peaches" (Jack Black, Aaron Horvath, Michael Jelenic, Eric Osmond, and John Spiker) from The Super Mario Bros. Movie got a nomination for Best Original Song - Motion Picture, but also did not win the award. The assocation nominated The Super Mario Bros. Movie for Cinematic and Box Office Achievement, a new category that "includes nominees from the year's most acclaimed, highest-earning and/or most viewed films that have garnered extensive global audience support and attained cinematic excellence." The film also did not win this award.
The Boy and the Heron is also nominated for the London Critics' Circle's 2024 awards show. The Florida Film Critics Circle awarded the film with the Best Picture award on December 21, the first time an animated feature film has won the award. The film also won Best Animated Film and Best Score. The Alliance of Women Film Journalists awarded the film as Best Animated Film in its EDA Awards.
The film has been nominated for Best International Filmmaker for Hayao Miyazaki at the Astra Film & Creative Arts Awards. The film additionally won the Best Animation award for the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards. The film also won the Animated Feature award from the Boston Society of Film Critics.
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). 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 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: 81st Golden Globes Awards stream, IndieWire (Christian Blauvelt)
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