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The Boy and the Heron Film Receives Nomination for BAFTA Award
posted on by Alex Mateo
BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) announced the nominees for its 2023 film awards on Thursday. Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron (Kimi-tachi wa Dō Ikiru ka, or literally How Do You Live?) film received a nomination in the Animated Film category. The category's nominee reveals begin at about 5:31 in the video below:
The Super Mario Bros. Movie was in the longlist for the Animated Film category, but it was not nominated. The longlist for the Film Not in the English Language category also included The Boy and the Heron, but the film was not nominated.
The ceremony will take place on February 18.
Entertainment news website Deadline reported on Thursday that The Boy and the Heron has passed £3.9 million (about US$5 million) at the U.K. box office to date, which marks it as Miyazaki's highest-grossing title in the U.K. and Ireland. The film has also become the second-highest grossing anime title of all time in the U.K. and Ireland, behind Pokémon: The First Movie.
The Boy and the Heron won the Best Motion Picture - Animated category at the 81st Golden Globes Awards on January 7.
The Boy and the Heron, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, and The Super Mario Bros. Movie were all recently nominated for the 51st Annual Annie Awards. The Art Directors Guild also recently nominated The Boy and the Heron and The Super Mario Bros. Movie in the Animated Feature Film category. The Producers Guild of America nominated The Boy and the Heron and The Super Mario Bros. Movie for the Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures category at the 2024 PGA Awards show.
The film opened in Japan on July 14, and sold 1.003 million tickets and earned about US$13.2 million in its first three days in Japan. The film sold 1.353 million tickets and earned 2.149 billion yen (about US$15.53 million) in its Friday-Monday long weekend (July 17 was the Marine Day holiday in Japan). It is the #71 highest-grossing film ever in Japan, and the third highest-grossing domestic film in Japan in 2023 with an 8.66 billion yen (about US$61.4 million) gross.
The film ranked at #1 in its opening weekend in the U.S. box office, with an earning of US$12,836,313 in its first three days. Variety reported that the film is the "first original anime production" to top the U.S. box office.
The film is the first Studio Ghibli film to get a simultaneous IMAX release. The film is also screening in Dolby Atmos, Dolby Cinema, and DTS:X.
Miyazaki is credited with the original work, in addition to directing the film and writing the script. Joe Hisaishi (Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro) composed the music. Kenshi Yonezu (Chainsaw Man, My Hero Academia, March comes in like a lion) performs the theme song "Chikyūgi" (Globe).
Sources: BAFTA's YouTube channel, Deadline (Andreas Wiseman)
