Fans of director Hayao Miyazaki’s films have been anxiously awaiting his last feature film, The Boy and the Heron, but Studio Ghibli has been extremely secretive, keeping the movie – and its release date – under wraps.
The official synopsis for The Boy and the Heron reads: “A boy discovers an abandoned tower in his new town and enters a fantastical world with a talking grey heron.” Currently there only seems to be a few still images out in the world so far — and that seems to be continuing as GKIDS brings the movie stateside.
But now, fans can rejoice, at least a little. A “first look” is coming September 6th.
The Boy and the Heron premiered in Japan on July 14, 2023, and is set to have its international premiere (and enter the North American market) at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2023, where it will be the festival’s opening film. However, anime fans living in the United States are curious about when the film will be released in their local theaters.
Unfortunately, other than the Toronto Film Festival dates, the film does not have an official theatrical release date in the United States. However, people are speculating it will enter US theaters by November or December 2023, and that’s only because distributors announced it would be released here “by the end of 2023.”
The Boy and the Heron will be directed by Hayao Miyazaki and will be his last feature film work. The film will feature the voices of Soma Santoki as Masato Maki, Aimyon as Himi, Ko Shibasaki as Kiriko, Masaki Suda as The Gray Heron, Takuya Kimura as Shoichi Maki, Yoshino Kimura as Natsuko, Keiko Takashita as Maid 1, Jun Fubuki as Maid 2, and Sawako Agawa as Maid 3.
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