The New York Critics Circle has officially kicked off the award season today by announcing the winning titles for the best features of 2023. Not surprisingly, the winner of the Best Animated Feature was Hayao Miyazaki’s much acclaimed feature The Boy and the Heron.
The Japanese master’s poignant and visually stunning new feature has a 97% score from critics on the Rotten Tomatoes review site. The movie began a limited run in New York and L.A. last week, but it will officially be released nationwide on Dec. 8. GKIDS, which handles all Miyazaki films, is distributing the film. To date, The Boy and the Heron has grossed over $83.2 million in Japan, S. Korea, France, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Norway and the Czech Republic.
The New York Film Critics Circle gave the 2023 Best Feature prize to Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon and the Best Director award to Chris Nolan (Oppenheimer).
Last year, Dean Fleischer Camp’s Marcel the Shell with Shoes On won the New York Film Critics Circle prize for Best Animated Feature. However, it was Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio that went on to win most of the major prices, including the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.
Watch the English-language trailer of The Boy and the Heron below:
More year-end critics’ awards will be announced in the next few weeks:
Dec. 6: National Board of Review Awards
Dec. 10: L.A. Film Critics Awards
Dec 12: Golden Globe nominations
Dec. 12: Chicago Film Critics Assoc. Awards
Dec. 12: Oscar shortlist voting begins.
Dec. 14: Critics Choice Assoc. nominations
Dec. 15: Black Reel Awards nominations
Dec. 15: Australian Intl. Academy Awards nominations
Dec. 15: Hollywood Critics Assoc.
Dec. 17: Oscar Shortlist voting ends.
Dec. 21: Oscar Shortlists are announced
Dec. 21: London Film Critics Circle nominations
Dec. 28: U.K. Film Critics Assoc. nominations
The New York Film Circle Critics gave the Best Feature prize to Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon and the Best Director award to Chris Nolan (Oppenheimer).
Update: In other awards season news, ABC and the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences announced today that they’re moving up the start time for the 2024 Oscar ceremony on Sunday, March 10, 2024, by one hour: That means the show will start at 7 p.m. ET/ 4 p.m. PT and end around 10:30 p.m. ET/ 7:30 p.m. PT (if we’re lucky!).
