Wild Bunch Co-Founders Say Goodbye To Legendary Moniker… But Have Yet To Confirm New Name

deadline.com:

Wild Bunch co-founders Vincent Maraval and Brahim Chioua bid farewell to the legendary company name they created in 2002 at a characteristically rebel-rousing party in Paris bannered “Forever Wild Whatever The Name!” on Thursday night, but have yet to confirm their new name.

Taking place during Unifrance’s Rendez-Vous in Paris, local and international collaborators flocked to the Annette K barge on the banks of the Seine for the event, featuring a Céline Dion tribute act and a set by DJ Kiddy Smile who appeared in Gaspar Noé’s Climax.

The dropping of the name marks the final act in their departure from the pan-European Wild Bunch AG film group, which was created in 2015 out of the merger of their original French company Wild Bunch and Germany’s Senator and is now majority owned by German entrepreneur Lars Windhorst.

Maraval and Chioua and their 15-person-strong team struck out as a standalone international sales company under the banner of Wild Bunch International (WBI) in 2019 but maintained the association with their old company for a three-year term.  “When we created Wild Bunch International, Wild Bunch took a 20% stake in exchange for us being allowed to use the Wild Bunch brand in our name, which now belongs to the group, under a signed three-year agreement,” explained Chioua. “This deal came to an end in November 2022, with a get-out clause for both parties.