‘The Boy and the Heron’ From Studio Ghibli Sets Global Netflix Release

Netflix is expanding its partnership with Studio Ghibli and GKIDS by picking up the Oscar-winning The Boy and the Heron in all regions, excluding Japan and the United States. 

The hand-drawn movie, which debuted in theaters last year, is Hayao Miyazaki’s first feature film in over a decade and, according to some reports, his very last. In recent weeks, it took home the coveted Oscar for best-animated feature, beating out titles like Netflix’s own Nimona, Elemental, and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

The movie follows a headstrong boy named Mahito as he ventures into a dreamlike world shared by the living and the dead.

The stacked English dub version of the movie includes the voices of Florence Pugh, Willem Dafoe, Christian Bale, Dave Bautista, Robert Pattinson, Gemma Chan, and Dan Stevens.

Netflix acquired the international rights to the Studio Ghibli library in 2020, adding 21 movies in three waves in the early parts of the year. Among the titles Netflix continues to stream include Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, and Kiki’s Delivery Service. A year later, it also acquired the international rights to Earwig and the Witch. Netflix holds the global rights excluding Japan and the United States, with every film subtitled in 28 languages and dubbed in up to 20 languages

Last summer, there was a scare when all the Studio Ghibli movies began displaying removal notices. Thankfully, those were removed, and we learned that they’ve all been renewed for at least an additional three years, with the back catalog currently set to expire in 2026 unless anything changes.

Although Netflix hasn’t confirmed the release date for the movie just yet, it did tease that it’ll have the official announcement of the Netflix streaming premiere date later this year.

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Why isn’t The Boy and the Heron coming to Netflix in the US?

GKIDS has a separate contract for all rights to Studio Ghibli titles in the United States and recently extended their arrangement with Warner Bros. Discovery in keeping the back catalog and will also be the streaming home of The Boy and the Heron under similar arrangements as with Netflix internationally. No release date has been set for The Boy and the Heron on Max just yet.

Are you going to be checking out The Boy and the Heron when it drops on Netflix later this year? Let us know in the comments down below.