A New Platform for Paddington
Hold onto your hat, duffle coat and marmalade sandwiches as the old bear is back in town. Paddington Bear is set to appear on the big screen in a CGI/live-action adaptation of the best-selling children’s books by Michael Bond.
David Heyman – the producer of all eight Harry Potter films – will adapt this “modern take” on the tail of the iconic brown bear from Peru who is found at Paddington Station and adopted by the Brown family. He said, “Paddington Bear is a universally loved character, treasured for his optimism, his sense of fair play and his perfect manners – and of course for his unintentional talent for comic chaos.”
The project has been picked up by France’s StudioCanal, and will be directed by Paul King, the British director behind surreal comedies such as The Mighty Boosh and The Bunny and The Bull.
Paddington was created by BBC Cameraman Michael Bond and made his debut in 1958. His books have sold more than 35 million copies worldwide and been translated into 40 languages. Bond was inspired to write these adventures when he bought a small toy bear for his wife on Christmas Eve 1956 after he saw it left on a shelf in a London shop.
The animated BBC series Paddington was first broadcast in 1975 and was animated and directed by Ivor Wood (The Magic Round About, Postman Pat, Bertha). The series had an extremely distinctive appearance. Paddington was a stop-motion puppet moving in a three dimensional space in front of two-dimensional backgrounds (which were frequently sparse black-and-white line drawings), while all other characters were 2D drawings. This was most likely due to time constraints and small budgets however it gave the series a certain charm that made it stand out from other animations of the time.
Earlier this year Paddington Bear was named the UK’s best animated character of all time at the British Animation Awards, proving he is still as popular with audiences today as ever.
StudioCanal will distribute the film in U.K., France and Germany and also will handle international sales. Chairman Olivier Courson remarked, “Mr. Bond’s Paddington is beloved across generations throughout the world, and David Heyman has had tremendous success adapting great British literary works for cinema.”
So will the remake be any good or should we send it packing on the next train back to Peru? Only time will tell and I can’t bear the wait.