Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron nominated for Academy Award

Earlier this month, Studio Ghibli’s The Boy and the Heron (also know as How Do You Live?) became the first Japanese movie to win the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature Film. While it’s an undeniable honor, the fact is that the Golden Globes are widely considered the B-tier of movie awards in the U.S., and so the big question is whether The Boy and the Heron can win an Oscar.

That still remains to be seen, but director Hayao Miyazaki’s latest work has passed the first test, as the Beverly Hills-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has now officially nominated The Boy and the Heron in its Academy Award for Best Animated Feature category.

Oscar nod is the fourth for Miyazaki and sixth for Studio Ghibli, which last won the Best Animated Feature award more than two decades ago.