SAN FRANCISCO - Raging Stallion Studios and gay adult affiliate program GunzBlazing have purchased European production company High Octane. The video brand will continue under Raging Stallion's banner at a production rate of six new titles per year, and GunzBlazing will take over the studio's website operations.
High Octane's next title, Masters and Servants, already is in the works and will be released June 13 by Raging Stallion. The studio's library includes more than 50 films.
Herve Bodilis ("Herve Handsome"), formerly a director with High Octane, will continue as head of production for the line, and former High Octane president Patrick Albret will stay on as head of European operations.
"We were in discussions with several other studios about merging operations, but Raging Stallion and GunzBlazing emerged as the best fit," Albret said. "They...have a strong commitment to continuing the High Octane brand. I still remember an email [Raging Stallion president] Chris Ward wrote me many years ago praising our movies. He understands High Octane, and I am confident that the future is going to be very, very exciting."
Ward said he engineered the acquisition as soon as he heard High Octane was available.
"I have always enjoyed High Octane films," he said. "Indeed, they were some of my favorite films back when I was just starting Raging Stallion. High Octane is all about quality: quality men, quality filmmaking and quality fucking. It is a natural fit for Raging Stallion. I look forward to continuing the brand and building it into the strongest line of European films in the market."
He also noted the purchase gives Raging Stallion a beachhead in Europe.
"Some of the other studios have been purchasing movies from European producers," Ward said. "This gives us a whole production team that is our own. We will be sending over our top exclusives to work in Europe. Indeed, European working vacations will become a standard part of our new model contracts. This also gives us the ability to sign some of the top European stars to exclusive contracts."
Randall at GunzBlazing said the deal is equally valuable for his team.
"High Octane is a perfect fit for GunzBlazing," he said. "The models are hot, the production values are high and [the content] hasn't been distributed on the Web to anywhere near its full potential, which is fantastic news for our affiliates. It further strengthens our customer value offering. There aren't many other networks that a gay surfer can join and have access to what will be seven premium, original and exclusive content pay sites covering multiple gay micro-niches."
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