The Boy and the Heron | Hayao Miyazaki | Studio Ghibli | GKIDS | NA Debut at TIFF | WINNER OF THE OSCAR FOR BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

[Issac Newton]

Title seems to be criticised heavily on internet.

[titanic2187]

1 hour ago, CoolioD1 said:

Qualifying run in December, actual release in January like they did for Belle, Weathering With You, is likely I think.

Awful arrangement. Both was snubbed eventually. In WwY case, WwY even had extra help as Japan submission for International Feature. The days for a movie to have qualifying run and only to open during Oscar nomination, hoping an Oscar bump, is over. 

 

The theatrical run like Mirai probably is the best. The last Japanese anime to be nominated at the Oscar. 

[MovieMan89]

I never was a fan of the name of this movie at all, honestly. Based on a book or not. I think a title change was definitely smart for domestic, but that’s veryyy basic and dull. To be fair, it’s pretty in line with something like “Castle in the Sky” as a title, but the distinction there Id say is that both of those words evoke way more immediate excitement and attention than “boy” or “heron” ever will for people.  At the very least, the actual character names in place of those words likely would be way better, and would match the majority of Miyazaki films being named for a character. 

[MovieMan89]

Also, I think HDYL? as a title sounded condescending and preachy as hell, another reason I never liked it. I definitely wouldn’t be surprised if GKIDS felt this way about it as well. Even one of those early reviews in here mentioned they were worried it might be a “grumpy old man” nihilistic movie with that title, and I kinda had a little bit of the same fear from the title as well all these months.
 

But yeah, they still could have done way better for a new title. GKIDS would not have been my distributer choice out of the candidates by any stretch of the imagination. 

[MovieMan89]

It’s also kinda interesting they used a word for a movie that will also target kids that could very easily be misread/confused with a hard drug in English lol… 

[ThomasNicole]

How something so open hearted and bursting in curiosity like “how do you live?”  is condescending?

 

The nihilist tone seems to be much more a personal judgmental opinion in how old people see life than something that’s actually on this title.

[Morieris]

If there wasn't going to be any promo/trailers/posters, I would have kept the name, but since there probably will be, I get a name change.

 

To such a boring name, I don't understand, but alas.

[Rorschach]

Yeah, no, I refuse to refer to this as anything other than How Do You Live? Such a dumb title change.

[YM!]

How Do You Live… with that lame ass title change?

[Mulder]

2 hours ago, MovieMan89 said:

It’s also kinda interesting they used a word for a movie that will also target kids that could very easily be misread/confused with a hard drug in English lol… 

Heron is a common bird name what are you even on about.

[dudalb]

5 hours ago, SchumacherFTW said:

Awful bloody title

I have to agree. If I were Mirazaki, I would be yelling like hell about it.

[dudalb]

3 hours ago, MovieMan89 said:

Also, I think HDYL? as a title sounded condescending and preachy as hell, another reason I never liked it. I definitely wouldn’t be surprised if GKIDS felt this way about it as well. Even one of those early reviews in here mentioned they were worried it might be a “grumpy old man” nihilistic movie with that title, and I kinda had a little bit of the same fear from the title as well all these months.
 

But yeah, they still could have done way better for a new title. GKIDS would not have been my distributer choice out of the candidates by any stretch of the imagination. 

God forbid we have a title that will make you think a little......

[dudalb]

4 hours ago, Issac Newton said:

Title seems to be criticised heavily on internet.

To a native English speaker it just sounds...well, really bad and clumsy. It sounds like a parody of a children's book title.

[MovieMan89]

3 minutes ago, dudalb said:

God forbid we have a title that will make you think a little......

Anime is still hard enough to sell domestically. This didn’t need a title like that, it’s not an appealing one. The title they chose isn’t appealing either for entirely different reasons. 
 

It’s honestly very “The Boy and the Beast” which was a flop when they attempted theatrical DOM release, and I’d partially blame the title for that. 

Edited July 14, 2023 by MovieMan89

[dudalb]

18 minutes ago, MovieMan89 said:

Anime is still hard enough to sell domestically. This didn’t need a title like that, it’s not an appealing one. The title they chose isn’t appealing either for entirely different reasons. 
 

It’s honestly very “The Boy and the Beast” which was a flop when they attempted theatrical DOM release, and I’d partially blame the title for that. 

'How Do You Live" might have problems, but it;s a lot better then "A Boy And His Heron" which sound like something Saturday Night Live would come up with if they needed a joke child's book title.

[MovieMan89]

2 hours ago, dudalb said:

'How Do You Live" might have problems, but it;s a lot better then "A Boy And His Heron" which sound like something Saturday Night Live would come up with if they needed a joke child's book title.

Actually if you ask kids if they want to see How Do You Live or The Boy and the Heron with no other context, I bet 9/10 go with Boy. So it is more appealing to market to kids. Still crappy name. 

[cannastop]

Lol looks like one of the mods changed the title of the thread.

I was going to wait until there was a USA release date announced.

[ThomasNicole]

I don’t know how effective it is to change the title to something appealing to kids considering they’ll probably watch it and find the whole contemplative surrealist vibe super boring 

 

To me, is better to sell it properly and have great WOM than try to appeal to audiences that will likely trash it for others 

[Potiki]

I don't like the English title but it isn't going to stop me from watching the movie. 

 

Hopefully it doesn't take too long to come out here in ANZ but with Wild Bunch sorting international distribution I have a lot more confidence than Crunchyroll who handled Suzume awfully outside of Asia. 

[Issac Newton]

Who changed the title (-------_____-------)