If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, The Hollywood Reporter may receive an affiliate commission.
Japanese animation legend Hayao Miyazaki has come out of retirement to create The Boy and the Heronthe 2023 film that earned him an Oscar and his first Golden Globe.
The Studio Ghibli founder’s animated film is now streaming on demand on Max and focuses on Mahito, a young boy who “ventures into a fantasy kingdom to find his missing stepmother.” In his review, THR’s David Rooney writes that Miyazaki has drawn “on formative childhood memories to reflect in dizzying, whimsical flourishes on loss and legacy, on finding peace and even comfort in sadness, and on holding on to one’s sense of self in a life inevitably destined to slide in and out of chaos.”
The Boy and the Heron premiered at the 2023 Toronto Film Festival and won Best Animated Feature at the 2024 Academy Awards. The English voice cast includes Christian Bale, Dave Bautista, Gemma Chan, Willem Dafoe, Karen Fukuhara, Mark Hamill, Robert Pattinson, Florence Pugh, Luca Padovan and more.
Read on to watch the trailer and find out where to stream it. The Boy and the Heron online, even for free.
How to watch The Boy and the Heron In line
The Boy and the Heron is now available to stream exclusively on Max in the United States (outside the United States, the film is available on Netflix). Max subscriptions are $9.99 per month with ads (or $99.99 per year with annual billing), $16.99 per month (or $169.99 per year) for the ad-free package, or $20.99 ($209.99 per year) for the ad-free Ultimate tier.
Max includes access to Emmy-winning and award-nominated HBO original series such as game of Thrones, House of the Dragon, The Last of Us, Succession, Euphoria, The Golden Age, The Sopranos, The thread and more. Some of the best Max deals include the new Disney+, Hulu, and Max bundle for $16.99 a month with ads or $29.99 a month ad-free.
Max doesn’t currently offer a free trial. However, cord-cutters can find one of the best deals on Max by adding the streamer to an existing DirecTV subscription, which offers a two-month free trial of Max for a limited time. Learn more here.
Those who do not have a Max subscription can purchase The Boy and the Heron digitally for $19.99 on Prime Video and Apple TV.
Where to watch Studio Ghibli movies online
Artist and filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki co-founded Studio Ghibli in 1985, and all of the Japanese animation company's titles are available to watch online on Max. The Warner Bros. Discovery-owned streamer's library includes My Neighbor Totoro, Ponyo, Ocean Waves, The wind rises, Kiki's Delivery Service and more.