The studio behind worldwide box office smash Paddington is in talks for a sequel after the marmalade-loving bear’s debut big screen adventure scored the highest ever gross for a family movie outside Hollywood, reports Variety.
Studiocanal, the French company which is the largest of its kind in Europe, is said to be in talks with producer David Heyman for a followup. Paddington, which features a stellar cast including Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Nicole Kidman, Jim Broadbent and Julie Walters (as well as Ben Whishaw as the voice of the loveable ursine immigrant from darkest Peru) has so far taken $218m globally off the back of excellent reviews. According to Studiocanal president Olivier Courson it is expected to reach at least $250m by the end of its run.
“We have to be selective, work with strong brands, top talent, take the time we need,” Courson told Variety. “[But] obviously, the result on Paddington is a strong incentive to us and the partners on the movie to work on a sequel, and a strong incentive for Studiocanal to continue in this area.”
He added: “Paddington has been our biggest bet. Even the development costs, such as creating the bear, were significant. But it shows we can be ambitious in this area of family entertainment, even if it brings us into more direct competition with US studios.”
Studiocanal appears increasingly confident of taking on Hollywood, with British-based movies beginning to benefit from the firm’s newfound muscle. Aardman Animation’s Shaun the Sheep movie, which debuted in UK cinemas on Friday, is another movie distributed by the French company which is expected to perform well at the box office.
Kidman plays a murderous scientist who threatens Paddington in Paul King’s film, which is based on the much-loved Michael Bond books that have sold more than 58m copies worldwide since first publication in 1958. The movie has triumphed despite travails for producers including the departure of Colin Firth as the voice of Paddington, and the much-criticised decision by the British Board of Film Classification to mention “sex references” in its decision to hand out a PG rating. The board later changed the wording to “innuendo” following complaints from Bond himself.
