From CAGLIOSTRO to HERON: Hayao Miyazaki’s Triumphant Journey to the West
Hayao Miyazaki’s THE BOY AND THE HERON triumphed at the Oscars last night! Beating out major Hollywood films, including Sony’s SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE and Pixar’s ELEMENTAL, THE BOY AND THE HERON won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. This was Miyazaki’s 4th nomination and 2nd win, and it was his highest grossing release ever in the United States. Miyazaki has never been bigger in the West, but it’s been a long journey to this point. Let’s go back to the beginning.
Miyazaki’s debut film, 1979’s LUPIN III: THE CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO was never theatrically released in the US. Pixar’s John Lasseter famously saw a clip of the film while at Disney Studios in 1981, which would eventually lead to their long partnership & friendship. But in the meantime, it’s only impact in the United States was being used for the Laserdisc arcade game CLIFF HANGER. It does however make a cameo in THE GOONIES.
His second feature, 1984’s NAUSICAÄ OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND did get a US theatrical release from Roger Corman’s New World Pictures in 1985, but only with an English dub from Manson International that changed names (Princess Zandra, anyone?), cut scenes & retitled the film WARRIORS OF THE WIND. Check out that crazy poster art. This was common practice at the time, where US distributors would do all kinds of tinkering to make anime more “American” and “kid friendly.” Miyazaki was understandably not very happy, and Studio Ghibli was extremely wary of international distribution going forward.
1986’s LAPUTA: CASTLE IN THE SKY was the first official Studio Ghibli film, after the founding of the studio in 1985 by Miyazaki, his creative partner Isao Takahata and their producer Toshio Suzuki. It was dubbed into English (without too many changes this time) by new company Streamline Pictures, the 1st distribution company focused on bringing anime to the US. The US premiere was at the 1987 Los Angeles Animation Celebration, and was followed by a small theatrical release. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the VHS rights, so the film fell out of circulation.
1988’s beloved children’s classic MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO was again dubbed by Streamline (featuring the voice of Cheryl Chase, aka “Angelika Pickels”), but the theatrical release was handled by none other than Troma Studios, using their “50th Street Films” label. Major studio label Fox Vdieo released it on VHS, and later on DVD. But you won’t find this dub on current releases, since it was replaced by a certain… bigger studio.
Meanwhile, Streamline did release CAGLIOSTRO on VHS, but due to rights issues with the character of Arsène Lupin from the French novels by Maurice Leblanc, the dub calls him “The Wolf.” The film was later re-dubbed by Manga Video, with the “Lupin” name returned. Both dubs are included on the Discotek Media BluRay. Streamline also released 2 episodes of the Lupin III television series directed by Hayao Miyazaki, titled “Tales of the Wolf.”
1989’s KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE was dubbed by Streamline for Japan Airlines in-flight movies, and was included on the Japanese Laserdisc release. 1992’s PORCO ROSSO was also dubbed into English for Japan Airlines (not by Streamline this time) but neither version were released in the US. If you were an anime fan in the early 90s, you either had to seek out bootlegs, or be satisfied with CAGLIOSTRO & TOTORO. That was until…
1997’s PRINCESS MONONOKE! This was the game changer. It played at the 1998 Berlin Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival and New York Film Festival, a major honor for any animated film, let along one in a foreign language. It was released in Japanese & English in the US by Miramax Films, thanks to a new partner in worldwide distirbution…
Disney! Ghibli & the House of Mouse inked a deal in 1996. Their first release was a new English dub of KIKI starring Kirsten Dunst in 1998 — listen to Siskel & Ebert give it a glowing review. That was followed by the release of MONONOKE (they let Miramax handle it since it wasn’t exactly kid-friendly). Disney produced a new dub of CASTLE IN THE SKY (dropping the LAPUTA) in 1998, featuring Anna Paquin and Mark Hamill, but didn’t release it till 2003, after the success of one of the most important & beloved animated films of all time…
2001’s SPIRITED AWAY! While MONONOKE made a splash overseas, SPIRITED AWAY was a Tsunami. It won the Golden Bear Award at the 2002 Berlin Festival, the 1st & only animated winner of any major festival in the world. John Lasseter himself supervised the English dub. Disney released it in the fall of 2002, and in a stunning victory, it won the Animation Feature Oscar in 2003, the 1st Japanese winner and the 1st hand-drawn 2D winner. A singular moment in anime history, and Miyazaki was rightfully hailed as a master filmmaker. His films were shown on Turner Classic Movies, and played at yearly retrospectives at the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles.
Since then, 2004’s HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE and 2013’s THE WIND RISES were also Oscar nominated, while 2008’s PONYO missed out. Other Ghibli films THE TALE OF THE PRINCESS KAGUYA & WHEN MARNIE WAS THERE have also been nominated thanks to another distributor: GKIDS! This small independent distribution company was born out of the New York International Children’s Film Festival. They took over theatrical rights for the Ghibli catalog in 2011, and have re-released all the films on home video & streaming (except Isao Takahata’s GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES, which was originally released by Central Park Media, and is now liscensed by Sentai Filmworks). HERON is their 13th Oscar nomination — including Ireland’s THE SECRET OF KELLS and Brazil’s BOY AND THE WORLD — and this was their first ever Oscar win!
In the 10 years since THE WIND RISES, anime’s popularity in the US has skyrocketed. Anime shows are huge on streaming, Makoto Shinkai has built a big following with YOUR NAME, WEATHERING WITH YOU & last year’s SUZUME, and the DEMON SLAYER: MUGEN TRAIN movie was a massive hit worldwide. And on top of all that, Miyazaki received an Honary Oscar from the Academy in 2014, presented by John Lasseter. Miyazaki had said he was retired after THE WIND RISES, but he couldn’t stop working, and look how much bigger the response was to THE BOY AND THE HERON in 2023! THE WIND RISES made just $5 Million in the US back in 2013. THE BOY AND THE HERON has made $46 Million. It won the Golden Globe & BAFTA, a first time achievement for a Ghibli film. For many new anime fans, HERON was the first Miyazaki film they got to see in a theater. Miyazaki has never been bigger.
“I’m completely baffled by the popularity of my work in America,” Miyazaki told the Los Angeles Times in 1999. Maybe now, after this 2nd Oscar win, he can see how truly loved he is here, and all over the world.
