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Movies & TV

03rd Apr 2023

Paddington 3 will start filming this summer

Stephen Porzio

It has been six years since Paddington 2, one of the most beloved movies of all time.

Paddington in Peru – the third movie in the much-loved Paddington franchise – will begin filming this July, it has been confirmed.

On Monday (3 April), one of the production companies behind the series of films, StudioCanal, posted a statement on Twitter that read:

“Make that a triple marmalade sandwich. Paddington in Peru starts filming this July! We can’t wait to see the return of our favourite bear.”

According to Deadline, the sequel will see the character of Paddington “getting into sticky situations in deepest, darkest Peru, his country of birth”.

The first two movies in the franchise were directed by Paul King and were released in 2014 and 2017, with both going on to receive critical acclaim and become box-office hits. In fact, after Paddington 2’s release, somebody spotted that it had the most perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes, thanks to receiving the most five-star reviews out of any film ever.

Effectively, using that as the formula, it made Paddington 2 the greatest movie of all time. However, one critic eventually came along and left a negative review, ruining the fun for everyone.

The story for Paddington in Peru comes from King, Paddington 2 writer Simon Farnaby and Mark Burton, with Burton, Jon Foster and James Lamont penning the screenplay. Commercials and music video director Dougal Wilson will take over filmmaking duties from King for what will be his feature debut.

Deadline reports that, while it is assumed Ben Whishaw will return to voice the title bear, his involvement in the sequel has not been confirmed yet.

Meanwhile, following villainous turns in the first two Paddington movies from Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant, the internet has suggested that Jason Statham should be cast as a baddie in the third entry in the franchise.

JOE raised this to the action star JOE when we spoke with him about his new movie Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, to which he joked: “That’s a small petition I’m sure, yeah?”

You can watch that interaction right here:

As well as this, when JOE got to speak to Paddington Bear himself Ben Whishaw about his role in the last Bond entry No Time to Die, we asked him a very important question: Is Paddington 2 the best movie of all time?

Whishaw told us:

“Yes, is the only possible answer! It’s a pretty good film, isn’t it? Yeah, I do love that film. It feels like every moment of that film is perfect, you wouldn’t change it, would you? It is so pleasurable. That is not easy to do.”

You can watch that interview below.

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