Alongside securing the Oscar-winner The Boy and the Heron, Max has announced a multiyear agreement with GKIDS that will extend its exclusive U.S. streaming rights for Studio Ghibli movies.
While a Max release date wasn't revealed yet for The Boy and the Heron, the streaming platform did share an announcement of its arrival will be "made later this year."
The Boy and the Heron won the Oscar and Golden Globe for the best animated film of 2023, and we here at IGN also loved the movie that was once thought to be legendary director Hayao Miyazaki's last. In reality, Miyazaki is already working on his next film.
In our The Boy and the Heron review, we said, "Hayao Miyazaki delivers the perfect coda to his illustrious career with a stunning animated adventure that reminds us how lucky we are to live at a time when Studio Ghibli is making movies."
Speaking of Studio Ghibli, the then-named HBO Max acquired U.S. streaming rights to the Japanese animation studio back in 2019 and that brought some of the most beloved stories of all time to the streamer. The full list of Studio Ghibli movies that will remain a part of Max with this new deal are as follows;
- Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
- Castle in the Sky (1986)
- My Neighbor Totoro (1988)
- Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)
- Only Yesterday (1991)
- Porco Rosso (1992)
- Ocean Waves (1993)
- Pom Poko (1994)
- Whisper of the Heart (1995)
- Princess Mononoke (1997)
- My Neighbors the Yamadas (1999)
- Spirited Away (2001)
- The Cat Returns (2002)
- Howl’s Moving Castle (2004)
- Tales from Earthsea (2006)
- Ponyo (2008)
- The Secret World of Arrietty (2010)
- From Up on Poppy Hill (2011)
- The Wind Rises (2013)
- The Tale of The Princess Kaguya (2013)
- When Marnie Was There (2014)
- Earwig and the Witch (2020)
- The Boy and the Heron (2023)**
And if you don't have Max - or just want to experience The Boy and the Heron on a bigger screen - GKIDS also announced yesterday that the film will be getting a celebratory re-release in theaters in honor of its Oscar win.
For more, check out our rankings of all the Studio Ghibli films prior to the release of The Boy and the Heron.
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Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on TikTok.
