How to watch The Boy and the Heron — is it streaming?

Studio Ghibli returned to the Oscars with The Boy and the Heron, so here’s how you can watch the movie and where it’s available on streaming.

At some point in your life, you will have undoubtedly stumbled across a Studio Ghibli masterpiece that was probably spearheaded by Hayao Miyazaki. Last year, he seemed to cap off his retirement with The Boy and the Heron (but he’s already returned to work).

The movie’s official synopsis reads: “Mahito, a young 12-year-old boy, struggles to settle in a new town after his mother’s death. However, when a talking heron informs Mahito that his mother is still alive, he enters an abandoned tower in search of her, which takes him to another world.”

After winning the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, here’s how you can catch up and watch The Boy and the Heron, alongside whether it’s streaming.

Is The Boy and the Heron on streaming?

The Boy and the Heron will be available to stream on Max in June 2024.

Before its arrival, we’ve also broken down how Max stacks against other streaming platforms.

Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli tend to keep a pretty tight leash on whether their films can be watched digitally, so the announcement that Max retained the rights is a huge deal. However, no June date has been given at this moment.

Catch the movie’s full trailer below:

Is The Boy and the Heron worth watching?

According to Rotten Tomatoes, The Boy and the Heron has a certified fresh rating of 97%, and an audience score of 88%.

In our review, we wrote: “If Hayao Miyazaki had the film equivalent of a Greatest Hits album, it would be The Boy and the Heron. Rather than being enjoyable for what it is, the movie’s merit rides almost solely on its moments of parodying Studio Ghibli work that came before it. Now that Miyazaki looks set to continue his lifetime passion of filmmaking, the ode doesn’t quite hit the moments of closure it would have if viewers knew this was the final hurrah.”

You can also find out what other new movies you should stream this month, and the best movies of 2024 so far.