In 2022, a user on X proclaimed, “Paddington 2 is the greatest film ever made,” and they weren’t being sarcastic.
Since its release in January 2018, this charming film about a bear who loves marmalade and seeks the perfect gift for his aunt has turned into an internet sensation, inspiring memes, think pieces, and even praise from Nicolas Cage. At one point, it was the highest-rated film on Rotten Tomatoes.
David Heyman, a producer of both “Paddington 2” and its 2015 predecessor, “Paddington,” stated in a recent phone interview from London, “A very diverse audience connects to it in a special way.” Notably, the acclaimed filmmaker Guillermo del Toro admitted he is a fan.
Now, with the release of the third film in the series, “Paddington in Peru,” which has already grossed over $100 million internationally, it’s hard to believe that when “Paddington 2” first premiered in the U.S., it was only a moderate box office success. Following its DVD and streaming releases, an enthusiastic online fan community erupted around it, celebrating the lovable bear who has brought so much joy.
“The humor caters to both adults and children,” Heyman, who cherished the Paddington books by British author Michael Bond as a child, explained. “It never feels patronizing or condescending. It has a huge, warm heart.”
All three films draw from the beloved children’s series about the duffle-coated bear, which debuted in 1958. The first movie chronicles Paddington’s journey from Peru to London, inspired by the World War II initiative that transported nearly 10,000 children from Nazi-occupied Europe to England. The second installment, directed by Paul King and co-written with Simon Farnaby, is a thrilling adventure featuring striking sequences as Paddington navigates a court trial, a daring prison break, and a wild train chase.
Securing the original cast’s return—Ben Whishaw as Paddington, Hugh Bonneville as the bumbling but kind Mr. Brown, and Sally Hawkins as the warmhearted Mrs. Brown—was a straightforward process, Heyman shared, and casting Hugh Grant as the flamboyant villain Phoenix Buchanan was just as easy.
“Hugh knows a great role when he sees one,” he chuckled.
Heyman noted that King’s directing skills significantly improved from the first to the second film, as he became more adept at managing the extensive visual effects needed to create the computer-generated bear, which was represented during filming by a bear head on a stick.
“There was more time to concentrate on the script and collaborate with the actors,” Heyman commented. “It was an enjoyable experience, and the film’s spirit was palpable on set.”
This was particularly evident in the exuberant Busby Berkeley-style dance sequence that unfolds in prison as the end credits roll. Imprisoned for a decade for plotting to frame Paddington for stealing a pop-up book, Phoenix, a former actor, finally gets his moment in the spotlight. He leads around 300 inmates in a lively tap dance set to “Rain on the Roof” from Stephen Sondheim’s musical “Follies.”
“Hugh fully committed to it,” recalled choreographer Craig Revel Horwood, who designed the 90-second number that was filmed in segments over 19 hours, right before the set was about to be dismantled. He recruited 300 of his tattooed, large-sized professional dancer friends to form the ensemble.
“Anyone who had an edgy look was in,” said Horwood, who spent a month planning the routine and three weeks teaching Grant to tap dance. “I had no trouble finding participants. Not a single person declined my invitation.”
He dressed the rough-around-the-edges extras in pastel umbrellas and size XXL bedazzled pink-striped uniforms—“when I saw them all in costume, I couldn’t stop laughing,” he remarked—then filmed from dawn to dusk, finishing the last few takes just as the deadline approached at midnight.
“It has a real Momma Rose moment from ‘Gypsy’,” he described. “That vibe of ‘Everything’s Coming Up Roses.’”
The same enthusiasm, unfortunately, wasn’t mirrored in the film’s initial box office performance in the U.S. Though “Paddington 2” enjoyed significant success in the U.K., it struggled to stand out during a Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, earning just $15 million against a $40 million budget, as per Box Office Mojo.
One challenge, Heyman pointed out, was that the Weinstein Company, which held partial North American distribution rights for the film, was undergoing a financial crisis due to the numerous sexual assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein, its co-founder and former co-chairman. Nearly bankrupt, the company didn’t transfer the rights to Warner Bros. until less than two months before the film’s release.
“So Warner Bros. was at a disadvantage when it came to marketing,” Heyman explained.
Ultimately, strong reviews—including one from this publication—and positive word-of-mouth aided the film in the U.S., although it never reached the level of success it did in Britain, where it eventually ranked as the sixth-highest-grossing film of 2017, according to Box Office Mojo.
That changed when “Paddington 2” became available to stream on Amazon Prime Video in March 2018, and it turned into a streaming sensation in 2020 during the pandemic.
“The film illustrates the power of empathy in human interaction,” shared Jason Chou, a 28-year-old visual effects artist based in Los Angeles.
However, not everyone appreciates the optimistic portrayal of Paddington in King and Farnaby’s adaptation.
An unusual incident involving “Paddington 2” unfolded a few years post-release. The film initially held a perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes, but in 2021 it dropped to 99% after a freelance film critic claimed in his blog to have given “Paddington 2” a negative review on BBC Radio back in 2017 (though no one could locate that review).
The critic, Eddie Harrison, expressed that having grown up reading the Bond books, he felt the bear’s “charm is entirely missing” in “Paddington 2,” describing him as having “evil, beady eyes and ratty fur.”
“This is not my Paddington Bear,” he asserted, “but a sinister, malevolent imposter who deserves to be launched into space or obliterated from the face of the earth.”
Quickly, he earned the ire of Paddington fans. Just hours after his blog post in May 2021, he became Public Enemy Number One among the Paddington community. Shortly after the score fell, The Hollywood Reporter covered the incident, sparking widespread media attention.
What prompted Harrison’s comment?
He wrote on his blog, the Film Authority, that he acknowledged a revised critique could jeopardize Paddington’s perfect Rotten Tomatoes score. However, he did not expect the level of backlash he received, which included doxxing, vandalism, and even death threats.
“It’s just one opinion, man,” Harrison said, who described “Paddington in Peru” as “adequate but quite average.”
Heyman, however, holds a contrasting view on “Paddington 2,” a sentiment echoed widely online, as the third film, which follows the bear back to Peru, received mixed reviews.
“The second film emphasizes finding goodness in others,” Heyman remarked, “because recognizing it in others allows us to discover it within ourselves.”
“In a world filled with cynicism, Paddington is a remarkably kind-hearted, optimistic character,” he concluded. “And the film reflects that.”
