#The Boy and the Heron Nominated for Best Animated Feature at 96th Academy Awards

Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron has been nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 96th Academy Awards, which will take place on March 10, 2024. 

This marks Miyazaki’s third overall nomination at the Academy Awards, following Howl’s Moving Castle, The Wind Rises, and Spirited Away, with the latter winning the award in 2002. The Boy and the Heron recently won Best Motion Picture – Animated prize at the Golden Globe Awards.

These nominees are an animated bunch. Presenting the Animated Feature film nominees… #Oscars pic.twitter.com/xrccP342Ji

— The Academy (@TheAcademy) January 23, 2024

Mamoru Hosoda’s Mirai was the last anime film nominated in the category back in 2018. 

Studio Ghibli’s other films The Wind Rises, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, When Marnie Was There, and The Red Turtle (which was a Japanese and French co-production) were also previously nominated in the Oscars’ Best Animated feature category. 

THE BOY AND THE HERON has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature! Congratulations to Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. 🌟 pic.twitter.com/dAKGeoWYUY

— GKIDS Films (@GKIDSfilms) January 23, 2024

Eligible anime films such as Blue Giant, The First Slam Dunk, Lonely Castle in the Mirror, and Suzume did not receive any nominations at the Oscars this year. 

The Boy and the Heron was released in the U.S. on December 8, 2023 after first premiering in Japan as How Do You Live?on July 14, 2023. 

GKIDS screened the film in North America and describes it as:

After losing his mother during the war, young Mahito moves to his family’s estate in the countryside. There, a series of mysterious events lead him to a secluded and ancient tower, home to a mischievous gray heron. When Mahito’s new stepmother disappears, he follows the gray heron into the tower, and enters a fantastic world shared by the living and the dead. As he embarks on an epic journey with the heron as his guide, Mahito must uncover the secrets of this world, and the truth about himself.

Source: The Academy Official Twitter, 96th Oscars Nomination Announcement Livestream