Paddington is a 2014 live-action animated comedy film written and directed by Paul King. It was developed from a story by King and Hamish McColl, which was based on the stories of the character Paddington Bear created by Michael Bond. Produced by David Heyman, Paddington stars Ben Whishaw as the voice of the title character, with Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent, Peter Capaldi, and Nicole Kidman in live-action roles. The film follows Paddington, an anthropomorphic bear who migrates from the jungles of "Darkest Peru" to the streets of London, where he meets the Brown family, unaware he is being pursued by a taxidermist.
A British and French venture produced by StudioCanal UK, Heyday Films, TF1 Films Production and Anton Capital Entertainment, Paddingtons principal photography began in September 2013 and wrapped up in June 2014. Colin Firth was originally set to voice Paddington, but dropped out in post-production and was replaced by Whishaw.
Paddington was released in the United Kingdom on 28 November 2014 and in France on 3 December. Paddington was released in the United States by The Weinstein Company on January 16, 2015. The film received critical acclaim, and grossed $326 million against a €38.5 million budget. It received two nominations at the BAFTAs: Best British Film and Best Adapted Screenplay. It spawned a film series with two sequels: Paddington 2 (2017) and Paddington in Peru (2024).
Plot
In the deep jungles of Peru, a British explorer discovers two members of a rare, unknown species of bear, and learns that they are intelligent, capable of human speech, and have a deep fondness for marmalade. He names them Lucy and Pastuzo and gives them his hat as he leaves, telling them that they are always welcome in London. About 40 years later, after Pastuzo is killed by an earthquake, Lucy encourages their orphaned nephew to travel to London while she moves into the Home for Retired Bears.
The cub arrives in London after stowing away on a cargo ship and reaches Paddington station. He meets the Brown family, who take him home and name him after the station they found him in. The father Henry disbelieves Paddington's story and initially does not want to help him, but his wife Mary, their adventurous son Jonathan, their multilingual but unconfident daughter Judy and their housekeeper Mrs Bird come to find Paddington endearing.
Paddington thinks he can find a home with the explorer who met Lucy and Pastuzo, but does not know his name. Mary takes Paddington to Samuel Gruber, an antique shop owner, who discovers that the hat bears the stamp of the Geographers' Guild. After they are initially denied access to the Guild archive, Paddington sneaks in, with Mr Brown helping him by dressing up as a cleaning woman to distract the guard. Paddington learns from the Guild archive that an expedition to Peru was undertaken by an explorer named Montgomery Clyde, but the Guild erased their record of it.
Meanwhile, Millicent Clyde, a taxidermist at the Natural History Museum, learns of Paddington's existence and sets out to find him, wishing to add him to her collection. Scheming with the Browns' next-door neighbour, Mr Curry, Millicent sneaks in while the Browns are out and attempts to capture Paddington. As he defends himself, he inadvertently starts a fire, and when Henry and Mary disbelieve Paddington's version of events, he leaves the house and attempts to find Montgomery Clyde himself, using a phone book to track down every "M. Clyde" in London.
Paddington eventually finds Millicent and learns that Montgomery was her father. Driven by resentment towards her father for refusing to bring a Peruvian bear home, Millicent lures Paddington back to the museum and tranquillises him. Mr Curry discovers Millicent's true intentions and warns the Browns, who come to Paddington's rescue and manage to defeat her; she is sentenced to community service in her father's petting zoo, and the Browns allow Paddington to stay in their house permanently.
Cast
Production
The film was first announced in September 2007, with David Heyman producing and Hamish McColl writing the screenplay. King conceived the film as a story about inclusiveness, kindness towards strangers and the meaning of family. He later said that he wanted the film's themes to be broader than contemporary British debates over immigration, describing its central concern as whether a family should be a closed, self-protective unit or one willing to accept outsiders.
King cited The Kid (1921) by Charlie Chaplin as an important influence, noting the similarity between its story of a reluctant adoptive father and the relationship between Paddington and Henry Brown. He also drew on London's history of immigration when adapting the books, including the use of calypso music associated with the Windrush generation. King also expanded the immigrant background of Mr Gruber, depicting him as having arrived in Britain as a refugee in 1938. King later confirmed that the reference to the Kindertransport was his own addition rather than an element taken directly from Bond's books.
Further developments were not made until September 2013, when filming began and Heyman announced the casting of Colin Firth as Paddington. With a budget of €38.5 million ($50–55 million), Paddington is the most expensive film produced by the French production company StudioCanal. Principal photography and production began on 13 September 2013.
Filming locations for Paddington were mostly in West London. The Paddington Station scenes were mostly filmed inside London Paddington station, although the exterior establishing shot used the front entrance of nearby Marylebone Station in Marylebone. Exterior shots of the Brown family home in Windsor Gardens were shot in Chalcot Crescent in Primrose Hill. Scenes in Mr Gruber's shop were filmed inside an antique shop on Portobello Road, and the skateboard chase sequence was filmed in Portobello Road Market and Maida Vale. For the fictional Tube station, Westbourne Oak, three separate locations were used: the entrance hall at Maida Vale tube station, on the escalators inside St John's Wood tube station, and on the disused Jubilee line platforms in Charing Cross tube station. The exterior and entrance hall of the Reform Club on Pall Mall served at the location for the Geographers' Guild, while the other interior scenes were filmed inside Hatfield House in Hertfordshire. Museum scenes were shot at the Natural History Museum in South Kensington, and a house on Downshire Hill in Hampstead served as the home of Millicent Clyde.
In June 2014, after principal photography had wrapped, Firth voluntarily dropped out of the film, after the studio decided his voice was not suitable for Paddington. The role was recast the following month, with Ben Whishaw signing on to voice the title role. Paddington was created using a combination of motion capture and CGI animation (by the British visual effects company Framestore).
In the Ukrainian dub, Paddington was voiced by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who went on to become the president of Ukraine.
Soundtrack
Nick Urata composed the film's soundtrack. Gwen Stefani and Pharrell Williams were commissioned to write a song for the film's American release, which turned into "Shine".
Release
Video game A video game based on the film, titled Paddington: Adventures in London, was released on 11 August 2015 for Nintendo 3DS and is published by Anuman Interactive through their Kids' Mania label.
Home media Paddington was released on Blu-ray, DVD and streaming on 23 March 2015 in the UK, and on 28 April 2015 in the United States by The Weinstein Company Home Entertainment.
Reception Classification In November 2014, the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) gave the film a PG certificate for its UK release and advised parents that the film contained "dangerous behaviour, mild threat, mild sex references [and] mild bad language." Paul King, the film's director, told BBC reporter Tim Muffett: "I'm not surprised about that [the PG certificate] but I don't think it's a PG for sexiness. That I would find very odd." Paddington's creator, Michael Bond, said he was "totally amazed" at the BBFC's advice. After the film's distributor challenged the certification, the BBFC revised the wording of its parental guidance, replacing "mild sex references" with "innuendo". It also further qualified the "mild bad language" as "infrequent", saying it referred to "a single mumbled use of 'bloody'."
Box office Paddington was released on 28 November 2014 in the United Kingdom, where it took in $8 million (£5.1 million) on its opening weekend, and topped the box office for two weeks. It was StudioCanal's highest opening and the second-highest 2014 family film debut in the country behind The Lego Movie. For the week ending 9 December 2014 it topped the box office in France. For the week ending 24 December 2014 it topped the box office in Australia.
The film was released in the United States on 16 January 2015. The film opened to third place in its first weekend, earning $19.0 million, behind American Sniper and The Wedding Ringer, and closed with a total of $76.3 million.
The film ultimately grossed $326.1 million worldwide.
Critical response Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 77 out of 100, based on 38 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.
Upon its UK release, Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film four out of five stars, saying: "the new CGI-live-action Paddington Bear could easily have been another garish, cheapo Brit-movie. Instead, writer-director Paul King ... and co-writer Hamish McColl have created a charming and sweet-natured family film, full of wit and fun, skewed towards young children but cheekily speckled with sly gags pitched at the older audience." Geoffrey Macnab of The Independent called it a "film of considerable charm but one undermined by a very bitty and flimsy screenplay. Writer-director Paul King has more flair for comic set-pieces than he does for sustained narrative."