The Boy And The Heron Comes to Disc This July

The animation world rejoiced at the news Hayao Miyazaki was coming out of retirement. It was a long wait though- The Boy And The Heron eventually arrived 10 years after his last film. And contrary to what you may have read elsewhere, there has never been the suggestion that this is intended as his final film. Even now he is said to be working on his next opus.

The film arrived to near universal praise, and gave Studio Ghibli and GKIDS Films their first US box-office number one. It won Miyazaki his second Oscar for Best Animated Film, as well as bagging awards from BAFTA Film Awards and the Golden Globes as well as several prestigious Critics Circle awards including The New York Film Critics Award and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.

For those unable to make it to a screening (or those wanting to watch it again) GKIDS Films and Shout Factory have announced the details of the film's home release. They will include the first-ever Studio Ghibli film to be released on 4K UHD, The film will be released on 4K UHD+ Blu-Ray, Blu-Ray+ DVD and 4K UHD+ Blu-Ray. All three editions will be available from July 9.

The Boy and the Heron will also be available from all major digital storefronts in HD or 4K. All versions will include the film both in original language with English subtitles and the English dub featuring the voices of Christian Bale, Dave Bautista, Gemma Chan, Willem Dafoe, Karen Fukuhara, Mark Hamill, Robert Pattinson and Florence Pugh. The digital version will be available a bit before the physical release on June 25.

Special features will include feature-length storyboards, an interview with producer Toshio Suzuki, an interview with composer Joe Hisashi and an interview with supervising animator Takeshi Honda. There is also a drawing featurette with Honda, a music video for the film's theme song Spinning Globe and teasers and trailers.

The film follows a young boy by the name of Mahito who moves to the country following the death of his mother. On his family estate, he discovers an ancient tower, home to a mischievous heron. When his new step-mother disappears, he follows the heron to the tower and hfinds himself transported to a mysterious world shared by the living and the dead.

The film is available to preorder from Amazon now digitally or on disc. (Other stores are available).