When Hayao Miyazaki’s long-awaited and supposed swansong The Boy and the Heron opened at No. 1 at the North American box office last December with a record-breaking $12.8 million tally, it was not only the first original anime title to achieve such a feat, but it was the biggest ever opening for U.S. distributor Gkids. It kickstarted what would be a whirlwind few months for the now 16-year-old company as it took the Studio Ghibli film, (which had opened the Toronto Film Festival in September) to an enormous $46.7 million box office gross (more than double their initial projections) in North America and, later a Best Animation win at the Oscars.
“It was the right film for the right time,” says Gkids president Dave Jesteadt. “The Boy and the Heron was Miyazaki’s first film in 10 years, and I think that a normal concern would have been if audiences had forgotten him,...
“It was the right film for the right time,” says Gkids president Dave Jesteadt. “The Boy and the Heron was Miyazaki’s first film in 10 years, and I think that a normal concern would have been if audiences had forgotten him,...
- 5/19/2024
- by Diana Lodderhose
- Deadline Film + TV
Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron,” likely his final film, has won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.
It’s Miyazaki’s second Oscar after the Japanese animation master won for “Spirited Away” in 2002. Miyazaki is the most nominated director in the Best Animated Feature category (tied with Pete Docter) with four nominations, including for “Howl’s Moving Castle” and “The Wind Rises.” Miyazaki is now also the oldest winner in the category ever, at 83, with the previous record holder being Mark Gustafson for “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio.”
“The Boy and the Heron” beat out an impressive field that included Pixar entry “Elemental,” Neon’s “Robot Dreams,” Netflix’s “Nimona,” and Sony’s “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” the follow-up to the Oscar-winning “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” from 2018.
Miyazaki and producer Toshio Suzuki were not present at the Academy Awards ceremony to accept the prize. Their Oscar was accepted on...
It’s Miyazaki’s second Oscar after the Japanese animation master won for “Spirited Away” in 2002. Miyazaki is the most nominated director in the Best Animated Feature category (tied with Pete Docter) with four nominations, including for “Howl’s Moving Castle” and “The Wind Rises.” Miyazaki is now also the oldest winner in the category ever, at 83, with the previous record holder being Mark Gustafson for “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio.”
“The Boy and the Heron” beat out an impressive field that included Pixar entry “Elemental,” Neon’s “Robot Dreams,” Netflix’s “Nimona,” and Sony’s “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” the follow-up to the Oscar-winning “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” from 2018.
Miyazaki and producer Toshio Suzuki were not present at the Academy Awards ceremony to accept the prize. Their Oscar was accepted on...
- 3/10/2024
- by Brian Welk
- Indiewire
English dubs for anime are a contentious thing. For many otakus, subbing out Japanese original audio for an English translation is defilement. Yet as anime has become more mainstream in America, the quality of dubs has shot up as well, and it's honestly not hard to find good ones these days (the English version of "Cowboy Bebop" is rightfully legendary).
Some of those quality dubs have been done for the films of anime's greatest genius: Hayao Miyazaki, founder of Studio Ghibli. When you're handling the work of a master, the incentive to do it right is all the more present. Not every single Ghibli picture is a Miyazaki joint, to be clear, but the director and studio remain pretty synonymous.
First, some history of Ghibli's English dubs. Miyazaki's earlier works in the 1980s and early '90s were mostly dubbed by the now-defunct Streamline Pictures. After Disney brokered a licensing...
Some of those quality dubs have been done for the films of anime's greatest genius: Hayao Miyazaki, founder of Studio Ghibli. When you're handling the work of a master, the incentive to do it right is all the more present. Not every single Ghibli picture is a Miyazaki joint, to be clear, but the director and studio remain pretty synonymous.
First, some history of Ghibli's English dubs. Miyazaki's earlier works in the 1980s and early '90s were mostly dubbed by the now-defunct Streamline Pictures. After Disney brokered a licensing...
- 12/10/2023
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
Founded in 2008, New York-based production studio and distributor Gkids almost immediately established itself as the United States’ most valuable lifeline to animated cinema from around the world, and so — after earning 12 Oscar nominations for introducing modern classics like “The Tale of the Princess Kaguya” and “Wolfwalkers” to American audiences — it might seem a bit overblown to suggest that the label’s reputation could still hang in the balance of a single dub. Gkids president Dave Jesteadt certainly didn’t expect that to be the case when he formally took the reins in January 2017, as the already thriving company was still on the verge of its greatest triumphs. And yet, by the end of the following month, everything that Gkids had accomplished would seem like a long prologue for the challenge that would ultimately define it.
On February 24, 2017, Studio Ghibli co-founder Toshio Suzuki announced that legendary filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki was coming...
On February 24, 2017, Studio Ghibli co-founder Toshio Suzuki announced that legendary filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki was coming...
- 12/7/2023
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron” is getting an A-list cast for the English release.
After premiering at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, the Studio Ghibli animated film opens in the U.S. December 8. The English-language dubbed version of the film will feature the voices of Willem Dafoe, Christian Bale, Florence Pugh, and Robert Pattinson, among other stars.
The film follows a young boy (Luca Padovan) who struggles with the loss of his mother while his father (Bale) remarries. A mystical Gray Heron (Pattinson) gives the boy spiritual guidance with his grief.
The official cast list has Bale voicing Shoichi Maki; Gemma Chan as stepmother Natsuko; Willem Dafoe as the Noble Pelican; Mark Hamill as Granduncle; Florence Pugh as Kiriko; Karen Fukuara as Lady Himi; and Dave Bautista as The Parakeet King.
Mamoudou Athie, Tony Revolori, and Dan Stevens are also featured as the Parakeets.
“The Boy and the Heron...
After premiering at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, the Studio Ghibli animated film opens in the U.S. December 8. The English-language dubbed version of the film will feature the voices of Willem Dafoe, Christian Bale, Florence Pugh, and Robert Pattinson, among other stars.
The film follows a young boy (Luca Padovan) who struggles with the loss of his mother while his father (Bale) remarries. A mystical Gray Heron (Pattinson) gives the boy spiritual guidance with his grief.
The official cast list has Bale voicing Shoichi Maki; Gemma Chan as stepmother Natsuko; Willem Dafoe as the Noble Pelican; Mark Hamill as Granduncle; Florence Pugh as Kiriko; Karen Fukuara as Lady Himi; and Dave Bautista as The Parakeet King.
Mamoudou Athie, Tony Revolori, and Dan Stevens are also featured as the Parakeets.
“The Boy and the Heron...
- 10/17/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Hayao Miyazaki’s ‘The Boy and the Heron’ Is Studio Ghibli and Gkids’ Biggest Marketing Challenge Yet
It’s been 10 years since animation master Hayao Miyazaki made a film and 12 years since Gkids took over North American distribution for the studio he co-founded and helped make iconic. But though “The Boy and the Heron” — which opened to raves out of TIFF on Thursday — is likely the last Miyazaki film Gkids will have the privilege of releasing, it’s also the distributor’s first.
“The Wind Rises” in 2013 was still released domestically by Disney and Touchstone (it made $5.2 million). And though the distributor’s annual Ghibli Fest has grown year over year in “spreading the gospel” of Ghibli and Miyazaki, as the distributor’s president Dave Jesteadt puts it, having a new film from the man himself is a different challenge entirely.
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel tremendous pressure. That’s also joined by a feeling of tremendous honor,” Jesteadt told IndieWire.
“The Wind Rises” in 2013 was still released domestically by Disney and Touchstone (it made $5.2 million). And though the distributor’s annual Ghibli Fest has grown year over year in “spreading the gospel” of Ghibli and Miyazaki, as the distributor’s president Dave Jesteadt puts it, having a new film from the man himself is a different challenge entirely.
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel tremendous pressure. That’s also joined by a feeling of tremendous honor,” Jesteadt told IndieWire.
- 9/8/2023
- by Brian Welk
- Indiewire
When Hayao Miyazaki’s semi-autobiographical fantasy “The Boy and the Heron” had its international premiere Sept. 7, it wasn’t just the first animated film to open TIFF, or the master director’s first in a decade. It is also part of an unexpected resurgence of animated work at major international festivals.
“When we started doing [2017’s] ‘Loving Vincent,’ only one adult animated film every five years got any kind of recognition,” says Hugh Welchman, who directed ”Vincent” and “The Peasants,” which premiered Sept. 8 at TIFF, with wife D.K. Welchman. “Now it seems that every year one kind of breaks out.”
Their Oscar-nominated Vincent van Gogh biopic helped inspire this trend, earning $42.2 million worldwide on a $5.5 million budget. “Heron” is already continuing arthouse animation’s successful run, taking in $50.6 million since July in Japan alone. And prominent fests are increasing their support: in 2019, Cannes launched an Animation Day in partnership with the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.
“When we started doing [2017’s] ‘Loving Vincent,’ only one adult animated film every five years got any kind of recognition,” says Hugh Welchman, who directed ”Vincent” and “The Peasants,” which premiered Sept. 8 at TIFF, with wife D.K. Welchman. “Now it seems that every year one kind of breaks out.”
Their Oscar-nominated Vincent van Gogh biopic helped inspire this trend, earning $42.2 million worldwide on a $5.5 million budget. “Heron” is already continuing arthouse animation’s successful run, taking in $50.6 million since July in Japan alone. And prominent fests are increasing their support: in 2019, Cannes launched an Animation Day in partnership with the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.
- 9/8/2023
- by Gregg Goldstein
- Variety Film + TV
On Friday, March 19, Wolfwalkers will be rereleased in theaters, North American distributor Gkids announced today.
The Apple Original Film’s latest theatrical run will kick off in New York, at the Angelika Film Center. In celebration of the Irish roots of the fantastical hand-drawn pic, which is set in Kilkenny, Gkids also has scheduled a special St. Patrick’s Day sneak preview, which will take place at the Angelika on March 17.
Additional theaters in major markets across North America will be added throughout March and April.
Directed by two-time Oscar nominee Tomm Moore and his longtime collaborator, Ross Stewart, the film centers on Robyn (Honor Kneafsey), a young apprentice hunter from England, who journeys with her father to Ireland, to help take out a pack of wolves. Long confined by the Puritanical society in which she’s been raised, the girl experiences true freedom for the first time only when...
The Apple Original Film’s latest theatrical run will kick off in New York, at the Angelika Film Center. In celebration of the Irish roots of the fantastical hand-drawn pic, which is set in Kilkenny, Gkids also has scheduled a special St. Patrick’s Day sneak preview, which will take place at the Angelika on March 17.
Additional theaters in major markets across North America will be added throughout March and April.
Directed by two-time Oscar nominee Tomm Moore and his longtime collaborator, Ross Stewart, the film centers on Robyn (Honor Kneafsey), a young apprentice hunter from England, who journeys with her father to Ireland, to help take out a pack of wolves. Long confined by the Puritanical society in which she’s been raised, the girl experiences true freedom for the first time only when...
- 3/12/2021
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Japan may not appear to be a particularly surprising choice for the spotlight nation at the 2019 Annecy International Animated Film Festival. But since 1999, when Annecy last so honored Japan, much has changed, and 2019 finds Japanese animation bursting with creative and commercial potential and sitting on the verge of a global breakout.
“The focus on Japan makes sense from an industry perspective in terms of just the level of productions and global audience,” says Dave Jesteadt, president of Gkids, U.S. distributor for many Japanese animated films, including the oeuvre of Hayao Miyazaki and several of the films playing the festival. “The Annecy team has done a great job in terms of matching that focus with films to back it up.”
This year, four of the 18 films in the feature competitions hail from Japan — more than any other nation and far from a rare occurrence. The festival’s most anticipated event...
“The focus on Japan makes sense from an industry perspective in terms of just the level of productions and global audience,” says Dave Jesteadt, president of Gkids, U.S. distributor for many Japanese animated films, including the oeuvre of Hayao Miyazaki and several of the films playing the festival. “The Annecy team has done a great job in terms of matching that focus with films to back it up.”
This year, four of the 18 films in the feature competitions hail from Japan — more than any other nation and far from a rare occurrence. The festival’s most anticipated event...
- 6/5/2019
- by Thomas J. McLean
- Variety Film + TV
Cannes–A panel of leading animation industry executives gathered during the Cannes Film Market on Sunday to shed light on their strategies for the theatrical release of adult-oriented animated features.
It was a timely conversation at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Five of the 28 animated projects in the Marché du Film are adult audience-focused, including two in the official selection, noted Annemie Degryse, CEO and producer of Belgium’s Lunanime, while moderating “The A-z Game Plan to Releasing Animated Films for Adults for the Big Screen.” Yet even as adult-oriented animation is enjoying greater critical acclaim than ever before, its commercial prospects are often limited.
“Finding the audience is always difficult for adult [targeting] movies,” said Carole Baraton, co-founder of Paris-based sales agent Charades. While family animation – despite its ups and downs – has had an established model for box-office success since the early days of Disney, adult-oriented animated features are still largely seen as niche-oriented.
It was a timely conversation at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Five of the 28 animated projects in the Marché du Film are adult audience-focused, including two in the official selection, noted Annemie Degryse, CEO and producer of Belgium’s Lunanime, while moderating “The A-z Game Plan to Releasing Animated Films for Adults for the Big Screen.” Yet even as adult-oriented animation is enjoying greater critical acclaim than ever before, its commercial prospects are often limited.
“Finding the audience is always difficult for adult [targeting] movies,” said Carole Baraton, co-founder of Paris-based sales agent Charades. While family animation – despite its ups and downs – has had an established model for box-office success since the early days of Disney, adult-oriented animated features are still largely seen as niche-oriented.
- 5/19/2019
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
With the announcement that it’s planning an Oscar-qualifying theatrical run later this year for its first original animated feature, “Klaus,” Netflix fired a shot across the bows of rival studios. Just as Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma,” which netted the streamer a trio of Academy Awards, raised the ante for streaming services in the live-action realm, the company’s feature animation ambitions have executives from DreamWorks Animation to the Mouse House taking note.
Netflix is developing an ambitious slate of animated features and series, while also beefing up its in-house animation studio. Amazon and Hulu, meanwhile, have both ramped up their acquisition and production of animated content, while other soon-to-launch Ott services — including Disney+ — are expected to fuel the toon boom.
The competition among content-hungry streamers has sparked a gold rush for producers and independent studios. What remains to be seen is how the rash of digital disrupters will transform...
Netflix is developing an ambitious slate of animated features and series, while also beefing up its in-house animation studio. Amazon and Hulu, meanwhile, have both ramped up their acquisition and production of animated content, while other soon-to-launch Ott services — including Disney+ — are expected to fuel the toon boom.
The competition among content-hungry streamers has sparked a gold rush for producers and independent studios. What remains to be seen is how the rash of digital disrupters will transform...
- 5/15/2019
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
With “Funan” (opening June 7th), director Dennis Do explores nightmarish atrocities in his acclaimed survival story about the cruelties of Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge in 1975. The Annecy and Animation Is Film (Aif) award-winner might also secure the 12th Oscar nomination for indie distributor GKids.
“Funan,” a French-Luxembourg-Belgium production, follows a young woman and her husband separated from their four-year-old son as a result of the Khmer Rouge’s forced exile from their village into internment camps. It features the voices of Bérénice Bejo (“The Artist”) and Louis Garrel (“The Dreamers”). “‘Funan’ is the story of a family. Of a woman…My mother,” the director explained in the production notes. “I wish to explore feelings, relationships, the whole complexity of human connection in a context of extreme oppression. Good and evil is not the point. The movie immerses us into the lives of normal people, exhausted by suffering…. Animation is an...
“Funan,” a French-Luxembourg-Belgium production, follows a young woman and her husband separated from their four-year-old son as a result of the Khmer Rouge’s forced exile from their village into internment camps. It features the voices of Bérénice Bejo (“The Artist”) and Louis Garrel (“The Dreamers”). “‘Funan’ is the story of a family. Of a woman…My mother,” the director explained in the production notes. “I wish to explore feelings, relationships, the whole complexity of human connection in a context of extreme oppression. Good and evil is not the point. The movie immerses us into the lives of normal people, exhausted by suffering…. Animation is an...
- 5/7/2019
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
Annecy, France — If the animated art and family film distribution business remains as lively as the 10th anniversary celebration of Gkids, the emblematic U.S. distributor, held at the Annecy Festival, then it will be in very good health indeed.
Not that the business’ prospects are negative at all. The Gkid 10th anni party proved something of a metaphor, for the company and the business.
First, it was held in France. The Annecy Intl. Animation Film Festival was the place where Gkids could to get together the largest number of friends, reasoned Gkids founder Eric Beckman.
To celebrate, Gkids snagged the Mifa Chill-Out Lounge, Annecy Festival prime real estate, a Mifa market outhouse overlooking the town’s lake and steep-backed mountains. That in turn is a reflection of the industry position Gkids now commands at Annecy.
“When we started, we were total outsiders, my first time at Annecy we were kind of tip-toeing around,...
Not that the business’ prospects are negative at all. The Gkid 10th anni party proved something of a metaphor, for the company and the business.
First, it was held in France. The Annecy Intl. Animation Film Festival was the place where Gkids could to get together the largest number of friends, reasoned Gkids founder Eric Beckman.
To celebrate, Gkids snagged the Mifa Chill-Out Lounge, Annecy Festival prime real estate, a Mifa market outhouse overlooking the town’s lake and steep-backed mountains. That in turn is a reflection of the industry position Gkids now commands at Annecy.
“When we started, we were total outsiders, my first time at Annecy we were kind of tip-toeing around,...
- 6/16/2018
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Film won best animated feature at 2016 Goya Awards.
Gkids has acquired North American rights to Alberto Vázquez and Pedro Rivero’s animated feature.
The distributor plans an autumn theatrical release in Spanish and a new English-language version for the film adapted from Alberto Vázquez’s graphic novel and short film, Birdboy.
Stranded on an island in a post-apocalyptic world, teenager Dinky and her friends hatch a dangerous plan to escape in the hope of finding a better life.
Meanwhile, her old friend Birdboy has shut himself off from the world, pursued by the police and haunted by demon tormentors. But unbeknownst to anyone, he contains a secret inside him that could change the world forever.
The dystopian fantasy was an official selection in several festivals including Annecy, BFI London, Fantasia and San Sebastian, among others.
The film won best animated feature at the 2016 Goya Awards and was nominated for best animated feature at the 2016 European Film Awards...
Gkids has acquired North American rights to Alberto Vázquez and Pedro Rivero’s animated feature.
The distributor plans an autumn theatrical release in Spanish and a new English-language version for the film adapted from Alberto Vázquez’s graphic novel and short film, Birdboy.
Stranded on an island in a post-apocalyptic world, teenager Dinky and her friends hatch a dangerous plan to escape in the hope of finding a better life.
Meanwhile, her old friend Birdboy has shut himself off from the world, pursued by the police and haunted by demon tormentors. But unbeknownst to anyone, he contains a secret inside him that could change the world forever.
The dystopian fantasy was an official selection in several festivals including Annecy, BFI London, Fantasia and San Sebastian, among others.
The film won best animated feature at the 2016 Goya Awards and was nominated for best animated feature at the 2016 European Film Awards...
- 5/12/2017
- ScreenDaily
Animation distributer Gkids has acquired Brazilian musician Ale Abreu's "The Boy and the World" for North American distribution. Gkids picked up the film at the Annecy Animation Film Festival in France. The company specializes in animated film distribution for both children and adults. The Brazilian title of the film is "O Menino e o Mundo." "The Boy and the World" is a unique and highly personal project to Abreu, with a one of a kind visual style to match. "From the very first notes on screen, 'The Boy and the World' announces itself as a special film, and a true discovery. We are excited to bring director Alê Abreu's very personal film to North America, and share a compassionate, musical epic that domestic audiences are sure to embrace," said Dave Jesteadt, Director of Distribution at Gkids. This powerful, visual journey throughout the course of a life screened today at Annecy.
- 6/9/2014
- by Brandon Latham
- Indiewire
Oscar-watchers should have learned by now that when it comes to the Best Animated Feature race, you underestimate Gkids at your peril. The independent animation distributor has only been around since 2008, but has already racked up four nominations in the race -- for the foreign titles "The Secret of Kells," "A Cat in Paris," "Chico and Rita" and "Ernest and Celestine." Each time, they've edged out more moneyed (and more widely predicted) Us studio contenders, proving that the animation branch is often more persuaded by craft than by commerce. Gkids' campaigns aren't infallible (I remain surprised that "The Painting" missed out in the 2012 race), but any high-profile new acquisition by the outfit is immediately one to consider in the race. And their latest, Brazilian animator Ale Abreu's festival hit "Boy and the World," sounds like the kind of exotic, artistic entry that could upend a Hollywood heavyweight or two.
- 6/9/2014
- by Guy Lodge
- Hitfix
Gkids has acquired North American rights to Alê Abreu’s Brazilian animation Boy And The World, which screens in competition at Annecy this week.
“From the very first notes on screen, Boy And The World [sic] announces itself as a special film, and a true discovery,” said Gkids director of distribution Dave Jesteadt.
“We are excited to bring director Alê Abreu’s very personal film to North America, and share a compassionate, musical epic that domestic audiences are sure to embrace.”
The Boy And The World [O Menino E O Mundo] centres on a young boy’s quest to reunite his family after his father leaves for the big city.
Kino Lorber has picked up North American rights to Ana Lily Amirpour’s Iranian Sundance entryA Girl Walks Home Alone At Night. Kino plans an October theatrical release followed by digital early bext year and will partner on a social media campaign and transmedia cross-promotion with Vice Media as part of the latter...
“From the very first notes on screen, Boy And The World [sic] announces itself as a special film, and a true discovery,” said Gkids director of distribution Dave Jesteadt.
“We are excited to bring director Alê Abreu’s very personal film to North America, and share a compassionate, musical epic that domestic audiences are sure to embrace.”
The Boy And The World [O Menino E O Mundo] centres on a young boy’s quest to reunite his family after his father leaves for the big city.
Kino Lorber has picked up North American rights to Ana Lily Amirpour’s Iranian Sundance entryA Girl Walks Home Alone At Night. Kino plans an October theatrical release followed by digital early bext year and will partner on a social media campaign and transmedia cross-promotion with Vice Media as part of the latter...
- 6/9/2014
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
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