The Paddington films are some of the most acclaimed family films with high audience ratings and nearly 100% on Rotten Tomatoes with 97% for the first film and an astounding 99% for Paddington 2. The third film, Paddington in Peru, has secured a release date for November 8, 2024, in the UK and will fly on over to the United States on Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, January 17, 2025. StudioCanal and Sony have just released the new official trailer for the film. In the intro, the beloved bear is preparing for his travels in a photo booth in order to take a picture for his passport. Unfortunately, the instructions are a little too confusing for him.
The synopsis for Paddington in Peru reads,
“In the Dougal Wilson directed picture, Paddington heads to Peru to visit his beloved Aunt Lucy, who now resides at the Home for Retired Bears. With the Brown Family in tow, a thrilling adventure ensues when a mystery plunges them into an unexpected journey through the Amazon rainforest and to the mountain peaks of Peru.”
Paddington in Peru stars an ensemble that includes Hugh Bonneville, Antonio Banderas, Olivia Colman, Julie Walters, Madeleine Harris, Samuel Joslin, Jim Broadbent and Carla Tous with both Ben Whishaw and Imelda Staunton returning as the respective voices of Paddington and Aunt Lucy. However, Sally Hawkins would not be able to return for this entry, and Emily Mortimer steps in as Mary Brown.
The film is a StudioCanal and Heyday Films production, but Sony has picked up the charming bear for distribution in the US and Canada.
Paul King, the director of the first two films, would opt to do Wonka over this installment, with Dougal Wilson taking over directing duties this time around. King explained why he chose to do the chocolate maker’s origins instead, “It was really difficult, because I’d spent eight years with the bear and I felt such incredible love for him,” King said. “He’s an animated character, and the design and the love that went into every single follicle was labor intensive and done with such heart. So it’s kind of like sending your kid off to school and going, ‘I hope you’ll be okay!’ But I also know it was the right thing to do.“
Paul King added that “because there’s so much Paddington source material, you could make 50 Paddington movies. I’d be a hundred years old and still doing Paddington.” If there was only enough source material to make two or three films, King said that things might have been different, but he was “really pleased” with were they left Paddington after the second movie and that it was “time to let go and give somebody else a shot.“