The Boy and the Heron: a final animated masterpiece from Hayao Miyazaki?

Japanese anime legend Hayao Miyazaki's latest film has topped the box office charts on its North American release.

"The Boy and the Heron", the long-awaited animated fantasy from Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli, took $12.8 million in the US and Canada on its opening weekend, handsomely beating the latest instalment of "The Hunger Games" saga, which took $9.4 million and the new Japanese monster movie "Godzilla Minus One", which earned $8.3 million.

"The Boy and the Heron" has received rave reviews from critics and audiences alike, with a 96% approval rating on film review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes, but fans are in mourning over rumours that the film may be Miyazaki's last.

The background

Miyazaki is a prominent Japanese manga artist, film director and animator, whose career has spanned nearly five decades. In that time he has "attained international acclaim", said Empire, alongside his collaborator, the director and screenwriter Isao Takahata, with whom he co-founded Studio Ghibli, an animation studio and production company.

The success of Miyazaki's films "has invited comparisons with American animator Walt Disney, British animator Nick Park as well as Robert Zemeckis", said the magazine. And Miyazaki was named one of the world's most influential people by Time magazine in 2005.

For The New York Times' Style Magazine, "no artist has explored the contradictions of humanity as sympathetically and critically as the Japanese animation legend". Now in his 80s "he's coming out of retirement with another movie", the magazine said in 2021, though many believe "The Boy and the Heron" will be his last.

The latest

Miyazaki has not formally announced his retirement, but according to The Guardian, "rumours of this being his final film are indeed true". Studio Ghibli "has no films on its slate and all production activity appears to have ceased", the newspaper said.

Not everyone is so convinced. Speaking on the red carpet at the Toronto International Film Festival last month, where "The Boy and the Heron" made its North American debut, Studio Ghibli executive Junichi Nishioka told CBC News that the revered 82-year-old director was still coming into the office full of ideas.

"Other people say that this might be his last film, but he doesn't feel that way at all," Nishioka told the Canadian broadcaster. "He is currently working on ideas for a new film. He comes into his office every day and does that. This time, he's not going to announce his retirement at all. He's continuing working just as he has always done."

Rumours of his retirement have been fuelled by Miyazaki himself as he has repeatedly spoken about standing down. In 1997 he suggested "Princess Mononoke" was to be his final film. Then, in 2001, he said the same thing about his next picture, "Spirited Away". And in 2013, when "The Wind Rises" was released, Miyazaki told a press conference: "I know I've mentioned I'm retiring many times in the past, so I know that many of you might think, 'oh again'. This time is for real."

Despite the emergence of yet another picture, some critics are convinced it is his swansong.

"With Miyazaki now 82 years old, his eyesight fading, his hands not as resilient as they used to be," said the BBC's Stephen Kelly, you could be "forgiven for believing him" that he is retiring.

Even if it isn't his farewell, "that does not stop it from feeling like one", Kelly said, not least because the tale is so "deeply personal".

The reaction

Miyazaki’s highest-grossing film in North America so far is "Ponyo", which earned $15.1 million on its release in 2009. If ticket sales continue at their current pace, "The Boy and the Heron" is "well on course" to beat that tally, said The Guardian.

Critics and fellow filmmakers have largely praised the film. At its Toronto premiere last month, the director Guillermo del Toro said in his introductory remarks: "We are privileged enough to be living in a time where Mozart is composing symphonies."

That sentiment was echoed by IGN, which said: "Hayao Miyazaki delivers the perfect coda to his illustrious career with a stunning animated adventure that reminds us how lucky we are to live at a time when Studio Ghibli is making movies."

Empire found the film an "astonishing, sumptuous animated fantasy", which showcases "everything you love about one of the greatest filmmakers of all time".

For the film review site Roger Ebert, the movie is "a mesmerising fable" that feels like "a summary of an artist's career", and "one of the best [films] of 2023".