Studio Ghibli's Howl's Moving Castle opens in Japan, Hayao Miyazaki's adaptation of Diana Wynne Jones's novel about a young hatmaker cursed into an old woman's body who takes refuge with a wizard in his walking castle.
Studio Ghibli's Howl's Moving Castle released in Japanese theaters on 20 November 2004, running 1 hr 59 min, after premiering at the Venice Film Festival in 2004[1]
It is based on a novel; hatmaker's daughter Sophie Hatter is cursed by the Witch of the Waste into an old woman and travels with the wizard Howl in his living castle as war tears the kingdom apart[1]
It is one of only three Ghibli films not released in July[1]
It won the Osella for Technical Achievement at Venice, Best Japanese Movie at the Mainichi Film Awards, and Animation of the Year at the 2005 Tokyo International Anime Fair, and was nominated for the 78th Academy Award for Best Animated Feature[1]
Disney Platform Distribution is the licensor; MyAnimeList shows a score of 8.67 and a rank of #81[1]
The first entry is always the pin's source. Overall confidence is a weighted average of how firmly each reference supports the start and end times used above; a reference counts half as much for every 180 days older than the newest.
myanimelist.net· Posted Sep 15, 2026· Starts Nov 20, 2004· 100% of score
Theatrical release date confirmed on the title's own MyAnimeList listing.
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CONFIRMED92% CONFIDENCE84%31.2 years agoTheatrical release date confirmed on the title's own MyAnimeList[1] listing.
Studio Ghibli's Whisper of the Heart releases in Japanese theaters, a coming-of-age story following bookish schoolgirl Shizuku as she chases a mysterious cat and discovers her own ambitions as a writer.
CONFIRMED92% CONFIDENCE84%40.1 years agoTheatrical release date confirmed on the title's own MyAnimeList[1] listing.
Studio Ghibli's Castle in the Sky opens in Japanese theaters, Hayao Miyazaki's adventure following orphaned engineer's apprentice Pazu and a girl named Sheeta as they search for the legendary floating city of Laputa.
CONFIRMED92% CONFIDENCE88%38.4 years agoJapanese theatrical release date confirmed on the title's own MyAnimeList[1] listing.
Grave of the Fireflies opens in Japanese theaters, a Studio Ghibli war drama following two orphaned siblings, Seita and his young sister Setsuko, struggling to survive in the final months of World War II.
CONFIRMED92% CONFIDENCE77%11.2 years agoTheatrical release date confirmed on the title's own MyAnimeList[1] listing.
Mamoru Hosoda's The Boy and the Beast releases in Japanese theaters, an original story about an orphaned boy in Shibuya who is taken in and trained by a gruff warrior beast in a hidden world.
CONFIRMED92% CONFIDENCE85%29.2 years agoTheatrical release date confirmed on the title's own MyAnimeList[1] listing.
Studio Ghibli's Princess Mononoke opens in Japan, Hayao Miyazaki's epic about a cursed prince caught between the spirits of an ancient forest and the humans of Iron Town.
CONFIRMED92% CONFIDENCE79%19.0 years agoTheatrical release date confirmed on the title's own MyAnimeList[1] listing.
Sword of the Stranger opens in Japanese theaters, an original samurai-era action film from Bones about a nameless ronin who takes on the job of protecting a young boy from Ming assassins.
CONFIRMED92% CONFIDENCE79%15.0 years agoTheatrical release date confirmed on the title's own MyAnimeList[1] listing.
Brain's Base's Into the Forest of Fireflies' Light opens in Japanese theaters, a short supernatural romance following a girl named Hotaru and Gin, a forest spirit she can never touch, across their summers together.
Asagaya-minami 1-18-6, Suginami, Tokyo, Japan (Topcraft, dissolved 1985)Topcraft
CONFIRMED92% CONFIDENCE85%42.5 years agoTheatrical release date confirmed on the title's own MyAnimeList[1] listing.
Topcraft's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind releases in Japanese theaters, Hayao Miyazaki's post-apocalyptic adventure adapting his own manga about Princess Nausicaä's struggle to bridge humanity and a poisoned, insect-guarded wilderness.
CONFIRMED92% CONFIDENCE83%7.7 years agoTheatrical release date confirmed on the title's own MyAnimeList[1] listing.
Kinema Citrus's Made in Abyss: Wandering Twilight opens in Japanese theaters, a compilation film recapping the back half of the TV series as Riko and Reg press deeper into the Abyss while the truth behind her mother's disappearance comes into focus.
CONFIRMED92% CONFIDENCE84%14.2 years agoJapanese theatrical release date confirmed on the title's own MyAnimeList[1] listing and cross-checked against Wikipedia's release-date table (its overseas festival premiere date is earlier).
Wolf Children releases in Japanese theaters, Mamoru Hosoda's original film about a young mother raising two half-wolf children alone after their werewolf father's early death, animated by Madhouse alongside Hosoda's own Studio Chizu.
CONFIRMED92% CONFIDENCE84%1.2 years agoTheatrical release date confirmed on the title's own MyAnimeList[1] listing.
Ufotable's Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle opens in Japanese theaters, the first of a three-part film series adapting the manga's climactic Infinity Castle arc.
