Curious Film director Taika Waititi’s ‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople’ scores a North American release

Taika Waititi’s fourth film, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, was given the prestigious Friday night slot of the opening weekend of Sundance for its premiere on January 22.

Four days later, the ink was drying on a AU$2.8 million deal with distribution company, The Orchard, that has acquired North American rights for the film. The deal includes a theatrical release commitment for approximately 100 markets.

Says Paul Davidson, senior vice president film and television at The Orchard: “This film captures so much of what we love about Taika — it’s wildly funny, endearing, smart and deserves as big an audience as possible. We pursued this film for all of those reasons but also because we genuinely love being in business with Taika.”

Hunt for the Wilderpeople is the second collaboration between Waititi and The Orchard, which also released What We Do in the Shadows in 2014.

Says Peter Grasse, president of Curious Film: “This is a major milestone for an Australasian commercial film company and proves without a doubt that Curious has the mettle to produce inspired, admired and creative content for audiences worldwide.”

The film was written and directed by Waititi and produced by Curious Film, Defender Films and Piki Films. Its producers were Curious Film executive producer and managing partner, Matt Noonan, Carthew Neal and Leanne Saunders – all from New Zealand. Its executive producers were Charlie McClellan and James Wallace. Curious’ editor and post producer, Luke Haigh, was one of the film’s three editors.

Says Waititi: “We developed a really strong relationship with The Orchard on What We Do in the Shadows. They did such a great job on that release that I’m really pleased to be partnering with them again on Wilderpeople. I’m excited the film will be getting a theatrical release in North America. It was the main thing we wanted coming into Sundance, so we’re all going home happy.”

Hunt for the Wilderpeople is a comedic drama based on Barry Crump’s novel, Wild Pork and Watercress, and is the story of a rebellious boy and his foster uncle, who triggered a national manhunt in the wild New Zealand bush. It stars Julian Dennison, Sam Neill, Rachel House, Rima Te Waita and Oscar Knightley.

CAA negotiated the deal on behalf of the filmmakers and Craig Sussman on behalf of The Orchard. Protagonist Pictures is handling international sales for the film, with CAA co-repping in North America.

In October, Waititi was also given directorial control of one of Marvel’s top franchises. He is to direct Thor: Ragnarok, which is is due for release on November 7, 2017.