Summary
Studio Ghiblihas been surprisingly tight-lipped about its upcoming featureThe Boy and the Heron. A top executive at the studio has given one impressive detail, asserting that the film has potentially the highest budget of any Japanese film, anime or live-action, ever.
In a Japanese-language article fromLivedoor News, Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki claims that the film is the most expensive ever produced in Japan. In a translation provided byWorld of Reel, Suzuki is credited as saying, “I think this movie probably cost the most to produce than any movie made in Japan so far.” As one of the co-founders of Studio Ghibli along with Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata in 1985, Suzuki can certainly be trusted to understand the production of this final film from its studio’s most legendary director.
While the exact budgetary number was not revealed for the film, the impressive figure wouldn’t be a huge surprise. Prior toThe Boy and the Heron, the previous title holder for most expensive Japanese film was also another Ghibli anime.Isao Takahata’s2013 Ghibli featureThe Tale of Princess Kaguya, is reported to have cost ¥5 billion yen. WithKaguya’s budget roughly equating to a little over $64 million 2023 USD when converted and adjusted for inflation, it wouldn’t be surprising that the budget forThe Boy and the Heroncould go over that.
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Plot details forThe Boy and the Heronhave remained evasive outside of Japanese audience spoilers, as Ghibli management has encouraged audiences to go into the film withas few preconceptions as possible. Audience and critical reactions in Japan have so far regarded the film as one of Miyazaki’s most visually-striking and fantastical. The film’s original working English-language title prior toThe Boy and the Heronwas“How Do You Live?”, a name taken from a classic Japanese novel written in 1937 that Miyazaki has expressed a strong affinity for.The Boy and the Heron, however, is not intended as a direct adaptation of the novel.
Since its release in Japan earlier this month, the box office forThe Boy and the Heronhas already rocketed past ¥6 billion yen in its domestic office alone, as reported by Japan’sMantan Web. While parsing out a movie’s profitability is a lot more complicated than simply subtracting the budget from the gross, the relative reliance on word-of-mouth marketing—a bold decision that Suzuki himself had a hand in—would also mean that there aren’t as many promotional campaigns added on top of the costs of the production itself. Although it has yet to cross the box-office milestones of previous Miyazaki films (Spirited Awayearned a massive pull of over ¥31 billion yen), the Japanese domestic run is far from over—not to mention its success in international markets.
Described as the final movie from legendary director Hayao Miyazaki (though not the first film for which that claim has been made), Studio Ghibli has been intentionally secretive with details aboutThe Boy and the Heron, releasing only one official marketing poster and foregoing large-scale press promotionor even a theatrical trailer. The film is currently set to be distributed in North American theaters by GKIDS later in 2023, although a firm release date has yet to be revealed.
