Sophie is horrified by the change at first. She starts out as an 18-year-old hat maker, but then a witch's curse transforms her into a 90-year-old grey-haired woman. Wynne Jones's novel allows Miyazaki to combine a plucky young woman and a mother figure into a single character in the heroine, Sophie. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 78th Academy Awards in 2006. It received a limited release in the United States and Canada beginning Jand was released nationwide in Australia on September 22 and in the United Kingdom the following September. The film was later dubbed into English by Pixar's Peter Docter and distributed in North America by Walt Disney Pictures.

It went on to gross $190 million in Japan and $235 million worldwide, making it one of the most financially successful Japanese films in history. The film had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 5, 2004, and was released in Japanese theaters on November 20, 2004. Mamoru Hosoda, director of one episode and two movies from the Digimon series, was originally selected to direct but abruptly left the project, leaving the then-retired Miyazaki to take up the director's role. The film was produced by Toshio Suzuki, animated by Studio Ghibli and distributed by Toho.

The film is based on the novel of the same name by English writer Diana Wynne Jones. Tales from Earthsea Source Howl's Moving Castle (ハウルの動く城 Hauru no Ugoku Shiro) is a 2004 Japanese animated fantasy film scripted and directed by Hayao Miyazaki.

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