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

[TMP]

8 hours ago, ThomasNicole said:

i bet it’ll be the same especially on US that usually seems to have a hard time dealing with abstraction and surrealism. 

I think Americans are just intrinsically dumber people on average tbh

[Danhjpn]

I only hope its entire run will be $30M+ 

 

[Morieris]

Ok our biggest theater got it and yeah there are standard showings. Interestingly there seems to be no pass restrictions on it there, and I have one from April.

[Valencia]

50 minutes ago, TMP said:

I think Americans are just intrinsically dumber people on average tbh

I can’t agree with that. It’s not an intelligence thing.

 

It’s that the knowledge needed to understand it in its entirety is not something anyone would have except Ghibli die hards or highbrow critics.

 

Miyazaki’s personal life, close coworkers, and previous filmography, etc. 

 

It’s targeted at a very specific group.

Edited December 6, 2023 by Valencia

[TMP]

46 minutes ago, Valencia said:

I can’t agree with that. It’s not an intelligence thing.

 

It’s that the knowledge needed to understand it in its entirety is not something anyone would have except Ghibli die hards or highbrow critics.

 

Miyazaki’s personal life, close coworkers, and previous filmography, etc. 

 

It’s targeted at a very specific group.

Interesting. If it's that insular i'm worried that I'll have to do extensive research before even stepping into the cinema

[harrisonisdead]

7 minutes ago, Valencia said:

I can’t agree with that. It’s not an intelligence thing.

 

It’s that the knowledge needed to understand it in its entirety is not something anyone would have except Ghibli die hards or highbrow critics.

 

Miyazaki’s personal life, close coworkers, and previous filmography, etc. 

 

It’s targeted at a very specific group.

On the contrary, I would say that the film's somewhat polarized reception so far has less to do with the exclusivity of information and more to do with fans not receiving something within the narrow definition of what they expect. Keep in mind that the most polarized market so far has still likely been Japan, and that polarization was evident even in the first days of release, when there'd have been the highest concentration of fans with an intrinsic knowledge of Miyazaki and the studio. With American audiences, any polarization will probably be for different reasons, for better or for worse.

 

The information you mention can yield new interpretations and interesting standpoints to analyze from, but it shouldn't be necessary to understand the film. Nothing can be understood "in its entirety," and this especially is going to have various details that are left unexplained even to the most fervent, studied fans. E.g. you mention "coworkers," but no critic I've read has mentioned that in their interpretation. I don't think it was really known how characters relate to Takahata or Suzuki prior to a very recent interview with the latter, which comes off as more of a fun fact than a vital puzzle piece. It offers a new perspective to certain aspects, but people "understood" the film before that. And I think that goes for most of that kind of information: Do you need to know that Miyazaki had some similar childhood details to Mahito in order to get the themes that those childhood details are conveying? Probably not. That autobiographical angle has been emphasized a lot in international marketing, maybe too much, but I guess offering people a lens through which to view it from the outset is intended to make the vague surreal stuff easier to swallow.

 

I'll be very interested to see how American audiences take it, because even most Ghibli fans here have only seen a couple Ghibli films, Howl's Moving Castle usually being one of them due to the cult following that film has gained over the past couple decades. I don't know if that narrower experience with Ghibli will give them narrower or wider expectations for what the movie can be. Cinemascore will certainly be interesting.

[Issac Newton]

France had always been a favorable market for Ghibli Films! Wild Bunch reported that, "The Boy and The Heron" (aka How Do You Live?) is the Highest Grossing Miyazaki Film defeating "Spirited Away" in Original Run!

 

Edited December 6, 2023 by Issac Newton

[Morieris]

I think a lot of people don't like surrealism and metaphors in their movies because they're not used to seeing a movie just to experience some visuals.

 

Remember The Green Knight and how A24 advertised it like an adventure when it was really introspective surrealism that loosely adhered to the story.

 

I loved it, but I also like the ending of 2001. I don't blame people for having different expectations, but I do hope we can see more surrealist films in the mainstream to encourage people to take a look.

[MysteryMovieMogul]

A few folks I know have shared they were seeing this film on social media, but none of them shared their opinions of the film afterward. Don't know if that means anything, but it's always weird when people do this.

[Valencia]

https://www.boxofficepro.com/weekend-box-office-forecast-will-miyazakis-the-boy-and-the-heron-challenge-for-the-top-spot/
 

$7M-$13M Range.

 

3 day forecast $10.2M

[JustLurking]

5 hours ago, TMP said:

I think Americans are just intrinsically dumber people on average tbh

Nah, the film was very divisive with GA in pretty much every market it opened in.

[harrisonisdead]

21 minutes ago, Valencia said:

https://www.boxofficepro.com/weekend-box-office-forecast-will-miyazakis-the-boy-and-the-heron-challenge-for-the-top-spot/
 

$7M-$13M Range.

 

3 day forecast $10.2M

Definitely hoping for those double digits, though more interested in the legs than anything. Really just want it to surpass Arrietty's $20M total. Suzume's multiplier was a little over 2x, so hopefully this can manage at least that.

[titanic2187]

4 minutes ago, harrisonisdead said:

Definitely hoping for those double digits, though more interested in the legs than anything. Really just want it to surpass Arrietty's $20M total. Suzume's multiplier was a little over 2x, so hopefully this can manage at least that.

 

If Spain and France is any guide in regard just how much Heron will do as compared to Suzume, this should do around 25m in NA. 

 

Critics are obviously in love with this movie. Rolling stone list it as one of the best in 2023 at #19. The only animation that got in. 

 

 

 

 

[Valencia]

National Board of Review awards:

 

Boy and the Heron made it into Top film, but lost to Spiderverse in best animated feature.

 

Soul was best animated and top film so I know one movie can be both.

 

Maybe it didn’t have the votes, but they still wanted to honor Miyazaki hence the split?

[cannastop]

3 minutes ago, Valencia said:

National Board of Review awards:

 

Boy and the Heron made it into Top film, but lost to Spiderverse in best animated feature.

 

Soul was best animated and top film so I know one movie can be both.

 

Maybe it didn’t have the votes, but they still wanted to honor Miyazaki hence the split?

Maybe there was an informal rule that since it was a top film it couldn't win Animated? IDK

[Issac Newton]

+2,200 Locs!

 

[Valencia]

37 minutes ago, cannastop said:

Maybe there was an informal rule that since it was a top film it couldn't win Animated? IDK

I think it’s the reverse. 
 

KOTFM won best film but isn’t on Top films list either, which also doesn’t make any sense.

 

I guess you are ineligible for Top Film if you take one of the top prizes.

 

 

Edited December 6, 2023 by Valencia

[harrisonisdead]

https://variety.com/2023/artisans/focus/boy-and-the-heron-cinematographer-color-palette-1235822062/

 

It seems like everybody involved with this movie is doing American press lol. I guess to make up for Miyazaki not doing any.

[harrisonisdead]

53 minutes ago, Valencia said:

I think it’s the reverse. 
 

KOTFM won best film but isn’t on Top films list either, which also doesn’t make any sense.

 

I guess you are ineligible for Top Film if you take one of the top prizes.

 

 

There is one ranked Best Film followed by 9 unranked runners-up, which together make the NBR's Top 10 of the year. KOTFM wasn't ineligible, it was included in the full Top Films list. 

 

Last year, Close won their international feature category but was not included in their Top 10 list, whereas RRR was included in the Top 10, which is a similar situation to this. But as you mentioned, Soul previously won animated feature and was included in the top 10, so the rule must have been created sometime between 2020 and 2022. I suspect it's more of a de facto "spreading the wealth" thing than a formal rule that definitively works in one direction or the other, though.

Edited December 6, 2023 by harrisonisdead

[MovieMan89]

9 hours ago, TMP said:

I think Americans are just intrinsically dumber people on average tbh

Well we’re not in the top 10 by IQ average, but we also have a way bigger pop than any in the top 10 besides China. The biggest factor is likely education system, since most top 10ers are known for good education, while US education is wildly uneven. 
 

And as an aside, Japan is #1 on said IQ ranking, and as already discussed, they arguably had the most polarized reaction of all to this movie. 

Edited December 6, 2023 by MovieMan89