Paddington 2 Director Speaks Out on Taking Crown From Citizen Kane on Rotten Tomatoes

Earlier this week the critically-acclaimed film classic Citizen Kane lost its 100 percent “Certified Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes when an 80-year-old review from the Chicago Tribune surfaced panning the Orson Welles-directed film surfaced, knocking the overall rating down to a mere 99 percent. The fall in score also had another consequence. Up until that review was found, Citizen Kane was one of only two major films in history to hold a 100 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, and with Citizen Kane down, that means Paddington 2 has taken the crown. Now, Paddington 2 director Paul King is speaking out about the surprising development, saying he’s trying not to take it too seriously.

“It’s extremely lovely to be on any list which includes Citizen Kane, but it is obviously quite an eccentric list that goes from Citizen Kane to Paddington 2, so I’ll try not to take it too seriously,” King told The Hollywood Reporter. “I won’t let it go too much to my head and immediately build my Xanadu. But I have been cooking up a model just in case.”

King also joked that were Welles alive and making movies with the technology available today he potentially could have made something “nearly as good” as Paddington 2, “but he had to make do. He had muster his meager talent into merely knocking out Citizen Kane.”

As for what’s next for Paddington, Paddington 3 is officially in active development. The status of the third film was confirmed in February, though King will not be returning to direct due to his work on the live-action Willy Wonka reboot, Wonka. However, King is writing and producing, and that the script was “coming on nicely”.

“It’s tough to get right and we certainly don’t want to make a film just for the sake of making a film,” King said.

“Maybe this is where Orson went wrong – he just needed to have spent a little longer on the script!” King joked.

King isn’t the only one responding to the surprising status change for Citizen Kane and Paddington 2, either. The Paddington Twitter account on Wednesday had a charming response to the whole situation writing “I do hope Mr Kane won’t be too upset when he hears I’ve overtaken him with rotten tomatoes.”

King also had his own ideas about how the titular Kane would feel about things as well.

“I’d like to think of him dropping that snow globe and muttering, ‘Marmalade.’”

What do you think about Citizen Kane losing its crown to Paddington 2? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.