Movies

The Boy And The Heron Won't Be Hayao Miyazaki's Final Film After All

The Boy and the Heron Studio Ghibli
By Jeremy Mathai/

Hmm, where have heard this before? In what's become kind of a running joke at this point, fans of Hayao Miyazaki know full well that the legendary director has gone out of his way to announce that he would absolutely, definitely, unquestionably, 100% be retiring on multiple occasions in the past — the last of which happened in 2013. And, each time, he's "unretired" with a flourish by debuting yet another Studio Ghibli hit that has proven beyond a doubt that he made the right decision to keep on creating some of the most sweeping and affecting art we've ever seen. Well, for those looking for a little nostalgia in their lives, here we go again.

Only moments after Miyazaki's latest and (presumably) last film "The Boy and the Heron" held its international premiere to widespread acclaim at the Toronto Film Festival, which is currently ongoing throughout this week, word began to spread that the anime titan's swan song wouldn't be quite so final after all. In a tweet posted by Eli Glasner of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (via Crunchyroll), no less an authority than head of public relations for Studio Ghibli Junichi Nishioka took it upon himself to announce that rumors of Miyazaki's retirement had been greatly exaggerated — or, at least, no longer apply. Reportedly, not only did Nishioka state that "The Boy and the Heron" won't be the famous anime director's last-ever film, but he's already in the early stages of developing his next movie(s), too.

[Exciting] news for fans of Hayao Miyazaki. Studio Ghibli VP Junichi Nishioka tells us The Boy and the Heron is not Miyazaki's final film and that he is already coming into the office with new ideas.

What a turnaround, to say the least.

Not so fast!

Hayao Miyazaki Toho

Hayao Miyazaki is currently 82 years old and just debuted his first full-length feature in a decade, but the beloved filmmaker isn't ready to call it quits just yet. Mere moments after the first screening for "The Boy and the Heron" was held at TIFF, eliciting glowing reactions that acknowledged the film's apparent awareness and intention of representing Miyazaki's final film ever, fans were hit with a heavy dose of whiplash. Although we've yet to hear it from Miyazaki himself, it seems clear that the director still has a little bit left in the tank.

Over the years, Miyazaki has increasingly brought in other animators onto his films as he focused solely on his directorial duties, even going so far as to release short films for Ghibli Park and the Ghibli Museum in between his features. While that still may be the case moving forward, Junichi Nishioka's statements appear to confirm that we haven't seen the last of Miyazaki on the big screen. Honestly, as long as the filmmaker is willing and able to keep working and channeling his passions into some of the strangest, yet most emotional stories you'll ever see, we're absolutely here for it.

"The Boy and the Heron" was first released in Japan on July 14, 2023, capping a thoroughly unusual marketing campaign that involved the release of a single poster ... and nothing else. After its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival (a screening that was attended by our greatest champion of animation, Guillermo del Toro), the highly-anticipated film is set to arrive in the United States on December 8, 2023. Now that we know there's even more Miyazaki goodness to come, watching "The Boy and the Heron" through that filter should be an interesting experience.

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