'The Boy and the Heron' trivia and fun facts
Precursor film
The first animated film in history to open the Toronto International Film Festival.
First IMAX
The first Studio Ghibli movie to have the IMAX treatment.
Trusted his film
Hayao Miyazaki started working on the film in 2016 without receiving an official green-light.
No promotion
Apart from the official poster, there will be no promotional material for the animated film.
Miyazaki's final film
It will be Miyazaki's final film and is his parting gift to his grandson.
Monthly deadlines
In December 2019, it was announced that the film was 15% complete after three and a half years of work. Producer Toshio Suzuki explained that it took Miyazaki to direct seven to ten minutes of animation per month and that they had scheduled five minutes of animation per month or approximately one hour per year into the film. However, Miyazaki has ended up directing approximately one minute of animation per month.
Premiere postponed
Hayao Miyazaki originally hoped to finish and release the film in the summer of 2020 to coincide with the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, which were postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.