Why Did It Take Seven Years to Make a Third Paddington Movie?

Paddington in Peru is arriving into domestic theaters with significantly more critical buzz than typical live-action/animated family movie sequels. Unlike past titles such as Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, The Smurfs 2, or Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties, Paddington in Peru is following hot off the heels of two motion pictures that have become beloved by the general public. 2018’s Paddington 2 has especially garnered a massively loyal following online as one of the greatest movies of all time. That status has even been referenced in other 2020s TV shows and movies like The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.

With so much praise surrounding the Paddington saga and how lucrative the first two features were, Paddington in Peru’s existence was always the very definition of inevitable. However, this motion picture certainly took much longer than most modern sequels to make. Paddington 2, for example, arrived just three years after the first Paddington. Paddington in Peru, meanwhile, hits multiplexes seven years since the last time the marmalade-fixated bear hit theaters. What’s going on here? Why did Paddington in Peru take so long to come to the big screen?

Little Bear, Big Development Problems

For the final year of the 2010s, movement on a third Paddington seemed to slow to a crawl despite Paddington 2’s financial success. Focus instead seemed to briefly shift over to the children’s TV show The Adventures of Paddington, which debuted in late 2019 with Ben Whishaw back reprising his role as that adorable ursine. Perhaps development on Paddington in Peru would’ve immediately started after that program hit the airwaves, but then another problem presented itself: the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the entertainment industry in March 2020.

Getting a Paddington movie made under these conditions (without breaking the bank) would’ve been impossible. Another issue at hand was that the Paddington creative team was going through some upheaval. Director Paul King, who’d helmed and wrote the first two Paddington installments, had reunited with Paddington producer David Heyman on Wonka. Paddington 2 co-screenwriter Simon Farnaby had also moved over to that Roald Dahl prequel. This meant that a new creative team would need to be assembled for whatever Paddington adventures came next. Just getting the band back together once more like with Paddington 2 was not an option.

These individual problems caused enough chaos that it would take until June 2022, nearly five years after Paddington 2’s United Kingdom debut, for Paddington in Peru to secure its title and a start date for principal photography. Still, even after this announcement, Whishaw himself would publicly note as late as February 2023 that he was unsure if this sequel would ever get off the ground. That level of uncertainty from a key Paddington in Peru cast member speaks to the production delays and chaos that kept this follow-up from happening earlier.

[RELATED: Paddington in Peru Trailer Takes the Talking Bear on an Exciting Adventure]

Was Paddington in Peru’s Delay a Bad Thing?

Normally, live-action kid’s movie sequels happen rapidly to ensure that youngsters, with their short attention spans, don’t forget about fictional characters they grew attached to. This is why three live-action Alvin and the Chipmunks movies graced theaters on a biannual basis from 2007 to 2011. Paddington in Peru, meanwhile, has taken seven years to come to fruition after Paddington 2. External factors beyond the control of this feature’s producers have ensured a much longer than usual wait time for a sequel. Does this mean the franchise itself is doomed?

Not at all. While the eventual domestic box office intake of Paddington in Peru will tell if U.S. audiences lost interest in the bear over this hiatus, so far, international audiences in territories like the U.K. are coming out in droves for this movie. One thing helping Paddington in Peru so far is that it’s based on such an iconic children’s literature character. Paddington Bear has existed for decades as a fixture of people’s bookshelves all across the world. The Paddington movie franchise went into seven years of hibernation, but the character never vanished entirely.

Interestingly, though, the producers behind these Paddington movies clearly still don’t want to have another lengthy wait between installments. Even before Paddington in Peru ever hit theaters, it was openly confirmed that a fourth Paddington movie was already in development. No release date or projected release window has been announced for this follow-up, but one can be sure Paddington Bear will likely return to the big screen a bit more quickly this time around.

Paddington in Peru hits domestic theaters on February 14th.