The Boy and the Heron, a masterwork by renowned director Hayao Miyazaki, won the 81st Golden Globe Awards in the fiercely competitive Best Motion Picture – Animated category. Even though the category was created in 2006 to honor animated works, no anime film had won an award before.
With his most recent film, Miyazaki has once again created history. At the esteemed awards ceremony, The Boy and the Heron became the first anime movie to ever win Best Animated Film. At 82 years old, Miyazaki’s semi-autobiographical fantasy film finally brought him a Golden Globe Award. While he was not present at the Los Angeles ceremony, Toshio Suzuki, his co-founder of Studio Ghibli, accepted the award.
The Boy and The Heron also broke many other records after winning the prestigious award. This is truly a great achievement for Miyazaki and the anime industry as a whole because it adds another level of global recognition to the anime world.
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The Boy and The Heron Becomes First Japanese Animated Film to Win Golden Globes
As the first anime and foreign film to win the Best Animated Film Golden Globe, Studio Ghibli’s The Boy and the Heron has created a milestone in television history. It is believed that The Boy and the Heron, which took seven years to complete, maybe Miyazaki’s final motion picture.
Launched in July of last year, the narrative centers on a young child who, following the death of his mother during World War II, is sent to live in the country and stumbles upon a magical realm. Upon its release, the film garnered a varied reception; some fans of Ghibli criticized it for being a semi-collage of previous characters and stories.
With the victory, The Boy and the Heron was officially declared the overwhelming favorite for the Feature Animation Oscar. Since its July premiere in Japan, the movie has made over $137 million worldwide, winning the top spot at the box office when it debuted in North America last month.
Other Records Set by The Boy and The Heron
The Studio Ghibli film, which was distributed by GKIDS in the United States, triumphed over the other five films that were nominated in the same category: Wish (Disney), Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Sony Pictures Animation), Elemental (Disney/Pixar), and The Super Mario Bros. Movie (Universal/Illumination).
With the success of his Japan-set film, Miyazaki has won several landmark achievements: the Golden Globe for the first time, for Studio Ghibli, the animation studio he co-founded, the first for GKIDS, the U.S. distributor, and the first for an animated feature not produced in English.
Along with the movie being nominated for the best-animated film, Joe Hisaishi, the film’s composer, was nominated for Best Original Score – Motion Picture. The movie has also been honored with two additional wins: the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Animated Picture and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Animation.
