Anniversary screenings kick off with a nationwide celebration on Tuesday, 31 March, with the film presented in a newly polished 4K version. A decade after it first stole hearts (and broke box office records), Hunt for the Wilderpeople remains New Zealand’s highest-grossing local film and a defining piece of our cultural DNA.

Waititi, naturally, is having none of this “ten years” talk, “Ten years?! Absolutely not. That’s fake news,” says the director. “That would mean I’m older, and frankly I’ve decided that’s not my brand.”

In true Taika fashion, the filmmaker reflects on the film’s strange, wonderful afterlife — a scrappy Kiwi story about belonging that somehow went global, proving that great stories don’t date, even if the trackpants do.

The film’s cast remains an all-timer roll call of local legends, led by Julian Dennison as the immortal Ricky Baker and Sam Neill as gruff bush uncle Hec, alongside Rachel House, Rhys Darby, Rima Te Wiata, Oscar Kightley, Cohen Holloway, Stan Walker, Mike Minogue and more.

Dennison, reflecting on his breakout role, keeps it pure skux, “woah — 10 years. Ten years of the skuxxiest people, the nummiest treats, and running around the bush,” he says. “We didn’t choose the skux life — the skux life chose us.”

Neill, meanwhile, is ready to grab a seat and soak it all in again.

“That rarity from Aotearoa, a comedy,” he says. “It’s the kind of film that’s even better with an audience. I loved the cast, loved my genius director, loved the whole experience.”

Producer Carthew Neal says the re-release is about reconnecting with cinema as a shared experience.

“Remastering the film reminded us just how extraordinary it is on the big screen, the story, the performances, the sound of our bush and birdlife. This film belongs in cinemas, with whānau.”

Beyond the screenings, the anniversary celebrations stretch well beyond the cinema doors. NZ Post has released a commemorative stamp series featuring Kane Skennar’s photography from the film, while Impressed Recordings is issuing the soundtrack on vinyl for the first time, including a strictly limited Skux Edition signed by Waititi himself.

And yes, there’s beer. Garage Project is brewing a limited-edition Majestical Lager to toast the occasion, available alongside the re-release in cinemas and across the country.

Tickets for the anniversary screenings are on sale now, with cinemas around Aotearoa planning special events to make the night one to remember.

Ten years later, Hunt for the Wilderpeople isn’t just back — it’s proving that the skux life, like true Kiwi cinema, never really leaves the bush.

Image: MadMan Films

The post ‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople’ Turns 10 — And It’s Heading Back to the Big Screen Where It Belongs appeared first on SpicyPulp.

From there it only grew as we continued to share our love for all things film, television and pop culture, presenting entertainment in all its spicy goodness and to celebrate this milestone we wanted to celebrate seven of our favourite films from the last seven years.

This is a simple round up of some of our favourite films of the last seven years and ones which we reckon make for an awesome session of binge watching.

Check them out below:

The Great Gatsby – 2013

It all began for us in 2013 with Marvel Studios Iron Man 3, and after that we were off and running. An amazing variety of incredible cinema came our way that year and Baz Luhrman’s glittering and lavish adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s magnum opus, The Great Gatsby, certainly caught our eye. A gorgeous film to look at in every single frame and packing flawless performances from the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire and Joel Edgerton, The Great Gatsby is a film that makes your heart beat faster and you can’t be caught up in the glamour and emotion of it’s jazz age story.

Nightcrawler – 2014

We got serious in 2014 with our movie watching and one of the coolest, most original releases of that year was Dan Gillroy’s hard-edged anti-hero tale Nightcrawler. Chronicling the rise to power of Los Angeles stringer Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal), Nightcrawler was the tale told from the villains perspective as this hungry, jackal of a character does anything to succeed in a modern capitalist society. From beginning to end, Nightcrawler had it’s audience on edge, and this is what we classify as utterly addictive viewing. Told with breathtaking originality and lightening speed, Nightcrawler was a film

The Hateful Eight – 2015

Quentin Tarantino’s eighth film was a very big deal and it certainly wasn’t what we were expecting. This western-mystery-horror-comedy-action-thriller was a complete backhander that took you by surprise at every turn and introduced to a group of the most despicable mercs, bounty killers, outlaws, liars, cheats, double-crossers and villains ever committed to the big screen! This was QT at his most outlandish and The Hateful Eight delivered one hell of a wallop when it came to the body count and blood splatter of the piece. Tarantino was firing on all cylinders with this one and The Hateful Eight certainly ranked up there as one of 2015’s most memorable releases.

Hunt for the Wilderpeople – 2016

Trust it to the good old vibes of Taika Waititi to give us all the feels with the instant cult classic that is Hunt for the Wilderpeople. A classic film bound by ‘kiwi as’ goodness, Hunt for the Wilderpeople is the perfect story of teenage delinquent Ricky Baker (Julian Dennison) and his ‘Uncle’ Hec (Sam Niell), who set off into the bush and embark on a strange, humorous and ultimately enjoyable journey together. Waititi gave this film a whole lot of heart and spirit, and everyone who saw it was sure to crack a smile.

Dunkirk – 2017

2017 was one definitely epic year for cinemas lovers, and it didn’t get much grander than Christopher Nolan’s wartime masterpiece Dunkirk. This gripping thrill ride of a blockbuster had your pulse pounding at every second as Nolan presented the story of the British Armed Forces desperate retreat from the shores of Dunkirk, France in 1940 as the Nazi war machine advanced on them with the single purpose of utterly annihilating more than 300,000 men. From land, air and sea this story was told, and with Nolan’s ambitious narrative, a breathtaking accurate sense of production design and costuming, a cast of Britain’s best, the magnificent cinematography of Hoyte van Hoytema and the pulse pounding score of Hans Zimmer led to one of the most exciting and visceral cinematic experiences of the decade.

First Man – 2018

Damian Chazelle had made a name for himself as a Hollywood whizz kid with amazing works like Whiplash and La La Land had made him a filmmaker to watch and his 2018 historical-space drama First Man was one incredible watch. Documenting the Apollo space program and the journey of astronaut Neill Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) to the lunar surface, First Man was a breathtaking piece of cinema and it certainly took audiences to the edge. Both the intense performance from Gosling and the force of Chazelle’s filmmaking where on full display here and the result was something truly magnificent.

Avengers: Endgame – 2019

2019 was a massive year for film fans, and when it came to blockbusters they certainly didn’t get much bigger than Avengers: Endgame, the culmination of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s ‘Infinity Saga’, and it made for one of the most awe-inspiring pieces of cinema ever committed to the big screen. Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) were all assembled for this one and they were ready to do whatever it took to restore hope and order back to the universe. The story was gripping, the visuals striking, the visual effects amazing and the emotion marvelous in a story that was testament to the power of the blockbuster and for these stories to resonate with audiences the world over, they truly don’t get any better than this.

There you go, seven films for seven years, and while 2020 is still very much up in the air with what awaits due to all the uncertainty that is going on in the world right now, we can still hold to the fact that cinema still reigns and that one day soon cinemas will be opened and we can all take in these bold technicolour masterpieces once more.

In the meantime we hope you all stay safe and well, and thank you once again for all your support for the SpicyPulp experience….here’s to what comes next.

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10. The Legend of Tarzan

The sheer epic-ness of the world’s original pulp hero was brought back to the big screen with immense scope and scale thanks to the grand vision of director David Yates. The Legend of Tarzan was fierce and uncompromising, and took audiences back to a long forgotten time and a mythical jungle landscape. Alexander Skarsgard was in full hero mode as the legendary Tarzan, and carried a physique of god-like proportions, while Margot Robbie was no damsel as his beloved wife Jane. The chemistry between these two was sizzling and not for one moment did my adrenaline stop pumping in this all-action adventure.

9. The Magnificent Seven

The west sure got wild thanks to this high-octane gunslinging adventure from director Antoine Fuqua that took one of cinema’s greatest ever films and re-imagined it for a whole new generation. Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke and Chris Pratt were all quick on the draw and steadfast in their actions, while Haley Bennett proved that she could wrangle the bad guys just as much as the boys, and was a crack shot with a long rifle. The Magnificent Seven was a thumping ride from beginning to end and was a terrific ode to the grand old westerns of the past.

8. Allied

Heart-wrenching love and terrible secrets kept me guessing every second in this ticking time bomb of a movie that delivered big bangs and even bigger shocks. The tension never eased for a moment in Allied, and director Robert Zemeckis sure knows how to keep his audience on edge. Stars Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard had undeniable chemistry together and brought incredible focus to this tightly wound thriller. Allied’s production design and costuming also brought back memories of Hollywood’s golden era, and I certainly did not anticipate that shocking ending.

7. The Light Between Oceans

Love is the most powerful force of all, and director Derek Cianfrance explored its ecstatic highs and heartbreaking lows in this emotionally evocative piece of drama. Michael Fassbender was at the top of his game, but it was Alicia Vikander who stole every scene as a woman and a mother who could not bear to let her child go. The tears certainly flowed while watching The Light Between Oceans, and Cianfrance also gifted us with the beautiful cinematography of Adam Arkapew, which made this film even more emotionally heartfelt.

6. Doctor Strange

The Marvel Universe’s greatest ever magician finally found his way to the big screen this year thanks to Benedict Cumberbatch, and man-o-man was Doctor Strange a mind trip! Director Scott Derrickson brought the hallucinogenic images of Steve Ditko’s art to life in all their vivid detail, and threw his audience head first into the astral plain. And as for Cumberbatch, the British thespian was all we could have wanted and more as the snarky, pretentious know-it-all who falls to historic lows before finally rising up and becoming the Master of the Mystic Arts. Wild, entertaining and very, very cool, Doctor Strange proved that Marvel certainly has plenty more surprises in store for its legions of fans.

5. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

The force was indeed strong with Gareth Edwards’ standalone galactic adventure Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which told the hard-won battle of the Rebel Alliance’s fight to steal the Death Star plans, and turn the tide of the war against The Empire. A stunning ensemble cast lead by Felicity Jones provided plenty of terrific new characters, along with lots of heroic actions. But the real power of Rogue One came from Edwards’ ability to put his audience deep into the heart of the film’s climatic battle scenes, as the Rebel Alliance stormed the beaches of Scariff to put an end to The Empire’s super weapon in a desperate do-or-die mission.

4. Hunt for the Wilderpeople

This instant Kiwi classic was sheer laugh-out-loud hilarity thanks to the combined talents of Hollywood veteran Sam Neill and the charm of hell raising teenager and ‘bad egg’ Ricky Baker, who was played to perfection by newcomer Julian Dennison. This good’ol tramping movie struck out deep into the untamed bush of New Zealand, and followed the misadventures of these totally unique characters as they rebelled against a society that had given up on them, before eventually finding strength and a sense of family with one another. Once again director Taika Waititi’s comedic timing was incredible, and his surprise cameo appearance had me in stitches. You simply couldn’t find a better comedy this year.

3. The Nice Guys

There was no better team up this year than Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling as mismatched hoodlum Jackson Healy and inept private investigator Holland March, who find themselves way over their heads in this laugh-out-loud black comedy from Shane Black. Packed with cracking dialogue, and tough guy swagger, The Nice Guys was a classic noir tale that sucked you into Hollywood’s seedy underbelly of the 1970s as these two ‘amateurs’ did everything they could to right a terrible wrong, along with turning a tidy profit in the process. The Nice Guys was a thoroughly entertaining watch and one of the best films I saw all year.

2. La La Land

The cinematic experience didn’t get more magnificent than Damien Chazelle’s lavish musical sensation La La Land. This throwback to the grand musicals of Hollywood’s golden era was packed with a terrific jazz-infused score and was bursting at the edges with pop energy. While Ryan Gosling channelled Fred Astaire’s dance moves and Frank Sinatra’s laid back cool, Emma Stone brought a great deal of heart and soul to this thumping movie. If ever there was a film to champion the magic of those who dream then it most definitely was La La Land. 

1. Deadpool

But it all it comes down to this. My favourite film of the year was undoubtedly the ultra-violent and incredibly crazy superhero action adventure love tale that was Deadpool. Ryan Reynolds knocked it out of the park as the Merc with a Mouth and proved that his snazzy one-liners were just as lethal as his sword skills. Reynolds, along with director Tim Miller held nothing back in this love letter to the cult comic book character, and it really showed on screen. Deadpool was pure, crazy, cinematic fun at its best.

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