Studio Ghibli makes history at the 2024 Oscars with The Boy and the Heron
Mar. 11, 2024The studio has broken its own record set by Spirited Away
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This means that the only two hand-drawn 2D films to ever win in the category have both come from the same studio and the same animation master. That’s pretty impressive, right?
Inspired by Miyazaki’s real life, The Boy and the Heron follows 12-year-old Mahito as he struggles to settle in a new town after his mother’s death, only to befriend a talking heron who informs him that his mother is still alive. In a desperate search for his late mother, the boy enters an abandoned tower which takes him to another very strange and skewed world.
But that wasn’t the only record the filmmaker broke that night, as Miyazaki is now the oldest winner in the category ever at 83 years old. The previous record holder is Mark Gustafson who was 63 years old at the time his flick Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio won Best Animated Feature. On top of this, Miyazaki is now tied with Pete Docter as the most nominated director in the category, with four nominations that also includeHowl’s Moving CastleandThe Wind Rises.
The Boy and the Heron was up againstPixar’sElemental, Nimona, Robot Dreams, andSpider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,whose leadShameik Moore was quick to take to social mediato decry the flick being “robbed”. Miyazaki was not present at the ceremony in the US to accept his award, but, wherever he was, we hope he was celebrating.
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