Will Hayao Miyazaki win an Oscar bookend for farewell film ‘The Boy and the Heron’?

Hayao Miyazaki is one of the most influential filmmakers in the history of animation. Studio Ghibli, the Japanese animation studio that he founded with Toshio Suzuki and Isao Takahata, has produced such classics as “My Neighbor Totoro,” “Kiki’s Delivery Service,” and “Princess Mononoke.”

Miyazaki has contended for Best Animated Feature at the Oscars three times: in 2003 for “Spirited Away,” in 2006 for “Howl’s Moving Castle,” and in 2014 for “The Wind Rises.” He won for “Spirited Away,” beating out “Ice Age,” “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron,” and “Treasure Planet.” Meanwhile, “Howl’s Moving Castle” lost to “Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit” and “The Wind Rises” lost to “Frozen.” Miyazaki was awarded an honorary Oscar in 2015, too, alongside Jean-Claude Carrière and Maureen O’Hara.

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And Miyazaki may well be back on the Oscars stage more this year for “The Boy and the Heron.”  The story follows a teenage boy who enters a magical world with a talking heron after stumbling upon an abandoned tower in his town. The film explores the boy’s psychological development via his relationships with his friends and uncle. It played to rave reviews and boffo box office in his native Japan earlier this year and is the first animated feature ever to open the Toronto International Film Festival. GKIDS releases it stateside on December 8.

This marks his first feature since “The Wind Rises” 10 years ago (he directed the short film “Boro the Caterpillar” in 2018). It is said to be his final film and that fact could prove too attractive to ignore for Oscar voters: one of the genre’s most influential figures saying farewell. How could they not nominate him? He’d match the record for the most nominations in Best Animated Feature (4) currently held by Pete Docter.

It has been a strong year for animated films, with “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” grossing over $1 billion and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” receiving rave reviews. Pixar released “Elemental” and Disney has “Wish” coming out later this year. Add to that “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget,” “Teenage Kraken,” and “Nimona” and we have a stellar lineup of animated contenders this year. Illumination, Sony Animation, Pixar, Disney, Aardman, and Studio Ghibli all have films releasing this year — the big hitters are out in full force.

Expect “The Boy and the Heron?” to be right up there with “The Super Marios Bros. Movie,” “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” “Wish, and “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget.” What a lineup that would be. “Across the Spider-Verse” will perhaps be the favorite — that film was so well-received that it is currently just outside of our 10 predicted nominees for Best Picture.

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