‘The Boy and the Heron’ airs on Max under Studio Ghibli renewal

Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron,” which just won the Oscar for animated feature, is streaming on Max in the US.

Warner Bros. Discovery announced a multi-year deal with independent distributor GKids to extend exclusive U.S. streaming rights to Max films for Studio Ghibli, the legendary Japanese animation house. The streamer has been the American home of Studio Ghibli’s catalog since 2020, when the service originally launched as HBO Max.

According to the renewed agreement, Max will be the future home of “The Boy and the Heron”; The streaming premiere date for Max will be announced later this year. The hand-drawn semi-autobiographical film, Miyazaki’s first feature film in 10 years, was produced by Studio Ghibli co-founder Toshio Suzuki and features a musical score by long-time Miyazaki collaborator Joe Hisaishi.

The extension with GKids will also keep nearly two dozen Studio Ghibli films, including “My Neighbor Totoro,” “Kiki’s Delivery Service,” “Ponyo,” “Spirited Away” and “Howl’s Moving Castle,” exclusively on Max in the US for at least the next few years. (A WBD representative declined to disclose the timeline for the agreement’s renewal.)

“Our subscribers are always looking for unique stories and we are happy to continue offering these award-winning and critically acclaimed films and to add ‘The Boy and the Heron’ to our rich and deep offering of Max content,” Elizabeth Bannan Atcheson, vice president said. of content acquisitions, Warner Bros. Discovery, in a statement.

The Oscar for “The Boy and the Heron” is the second that Miyazaki has received, after he won the animated feature award in 2003 for “Spirited Award.” He also accepted an honorary Academy Award in 2014 for his “exceptional contributions to cinema.”

GKids released “The Boy and the Heron” in the US on December 8, 2023, in its original Japanese with English subtitles, as well as a new English version featuring the voices of Christian Bale, Dave Bautista, Gemma Chan, Willem Dafoe, Karen Fukuhara, Mark Hamill, Robert Pattinson and Florence Pugh. The film is GKids’ highest-grossing release in its 16-year history, earning more than $46 million at the North American box office to date and also reaching the milestone of the highest-grossing original Japanese animated film of all time domestically. GKids said it will re-release the film in North American theaters later this month.

Here is the official synopsis of “The Boy and the Heron”: “After losing his mother during the war, young Mahito moves to his family’s farm in the countryside. There, a series of mysterious events lead him to a secluded ancient tower, home to a mischievous gray heron. When Mahito’s new stepmother disappears, he follows the gray heron to the tower and enters a fantastical world shared by the living and the dead. As he embarks on an epic journey with the heron as his guide, Mahito must discover the secrets of this world and the truth about himself.”

Below is the list of movies available to stream on Max in the US, with the date for “The Boy and the Heron” to be announced later: