How to watch The Boy and the Heron on streaming? Release date, platform, and more 

Hayao Miyazaki’s Oscar-winning feature, Studio Ghibli's The Boy and the Heron, is all set to make its streaming debut this month. Studio Ghibli is popular for its whimsical fantasy tales, and The Boy and the Heron only adds to the studio's reputation for bringing us unique stories that pull at our heartstrings.

The Ghibli movie will be joining the rest of the Studio Ghibli library on Max. It is being added as part of the streamer’s exclusive multiyear U.S. deal extension, which was announced earlier this year.

The film made a whopping $127 million at the box office, becoming the top-grossing anime film ever released in North America and Japan. The hand-drawn, semi-autobiographical animated movie from the acclaimed Miyazaki marks his first feature film in 10 years that he both wrote and directed.

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How to watch The Boy and the Heron on streaming?

The Boy and the Heron will be available for streaming exclusively on Max in the United States starting Friday, September 6, 2024. However, outside the U.S. and Japan, the movie will be available on Netflix, though the streaming platform has yet to set a premiere date for it.

The HBO streaming platform has been the U.S. home to Studio Ghibli’s catalog since 2020 when HBO launched its streaming service. A deal extension with GKids ensures that two dozen Studio Ghibli films, including My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Ponyo, Spirited Away, and Howl’s Moving Castle, remain on Max for exclusive streaming for the foreseeable future.

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What is the Studio Ghibli film all about? Plot and trailer explored

The Boy and the Heron marks the studio’s 24th film and director Hayao Miyazaki’s final animated creation. The story follows young Mahito, who finds himself in the throes of an enchanted mystery surrounding his new home. With his mother’s passing having soured his meaning in life, Mahito still manages to find some reason to go on and eventually learns to love those around him.

The official synopsis of the animation reads as follows:

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

Watch the trailer for the movie here.

The Ghibli movie won the prize for Animated Feature Film at this year’s Academy Awards, marking Miyazaki’s second Oscar after Spirited Away. Miyazaki was also awarded an honorary Academy Award in 2014 for "exceptional contributions to cinema.” The movie also won the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature Film.

The Boy and the Heron is produced by Studio Ghibli co-founder Toshio Suzuki and features a musical score from Miyazaki’s longtime collaborator Joe Hisaishi. The movie is the highest-grossing film to date for international distributor GKids, with domestic box-office earnings of about $46.8 million.

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Voice cast explored

The English-language version of The Boy and the Heron features the voices of Christian Bale, Gemma Chan, Dave Bautista, Karen Fukuhara, Willem Dafoe, Robert Pattinson, Mark Hamill, and Florence Pugh.

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Catch The Boy and the Heron on Max.