Taika Waititi’s family adventure masterpiece is getting a new release.
Waititi is a New Zealand-born filmmaker who burst onto the scene as a blockbuster director with 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok, a film that realigned Chris Hemsworth’s MCU character as a more comic hero than an overly self-serious one. After finding success with his first Marvel venture, Waititi made Jojo Rabbit in 2019, a World War II comedy that won him the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. Waititi’s return to superheroes with Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) was met with a mixed reception, and he subsequently went back to his low-budget roots with Next Goal Wins (2023).
Though Waititi has made some massive blockbusters in recent years, one of his earliest successes was Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016), and this low-budget venture has now gotten an exciting release update. Radical Entertainment has revealed that the coming-of-age adventure comedy will be available to rent and purchase digitally in 4K in the U.S. for the first time starting September 1.
Hunt for the Wilderpeople‘s 4K digital release will be available for rental and purchase from all major digital retailers, including Apple TV, Prime Video, and Fandango at Home. The film is currently available to pre-order.
In addition to Hunt for the Wilderpeople‘s impending new release, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is also celebrating the movie’s tenth anniversary with a special screening in Los Angeles on Friday, October 2. The screening, for which tickets are now on sale, will include a Q&A with Waititi himself.
Made on a small budget of only $2.5 million, Waititi’s 2016 comedy tells the story of a national manhunt for a rebellious city kid and his cantankerous foster uncle as they attempt to survive in the New Zealand wilderness. Julian Dennison stars in Hunt for the Wilderpeople as Ricky Baker, with the late Sam Neill playing Hec, the uncle. The rest of the cast includes Rachel House, Oscar Knightley, Rima Te Wiata, Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne, and Waititi.
Hunt for the Wilderpeople was acclaimed upon its release. On Rotten Tomatoes, the movie enjoys a 97% critics’ score, with praise aimed at the performances, direction, script, moving themes, and humor. For many, it remains Waititi’s best movie, and critic Peter Bradshaw, in his review for The Guardian, calls it the filmmaker’s “masterpiece.”
The film also resonated with audiences. Hunt for the Wilderpeople grossed a staggering $51 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing New Zealand domestic movie ever made. Note that while the Lord of the Rings trilogy is widely associated with New Zealand and grossed far more than this, that trilogy, as well as James Cameron’s New Zealand-shot Avatar, are international co-productions.
Even though Waititi’s career has expanded in interesting and exciting ways since 2016, Hunt for the Wilderpeople evidently remains a beloved entry in his filmography. The upcoming 4K digital release in the U.S. will give audiences another way to appreciate the charming adventure in a high-quality format.
- Release Date
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March 31, 2016
- Runtime
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101minutes