Paddington 3 begins filming this July

Break out the marmalade sandwiches: everyone's favourite ursine companion Paddington is getting a threequel. And it's been confirmed that Paddington 3 will begin shooting on July 24th. It's enough to make one dress up and promote dog food for a living (OK, so that only applied to Hugh Grant's nefarious baddie in Paddington 2).

Deadline has confirmed that the third movie, officially titled Paddington in Peru, will reunite many of the key creatives from the first two movies. This includes producer David Heyman (also the guru behind the Harry Potter franchise) and screenwriter Simon Farnaby. Director Paul King, however, is currently preoccupied with his Wonka origin story (due out this December) and has given way to Dougal Wilson who makes his feature film debut.

Studiocanal CEO Anna Marsh and EVP Global Production Ron Halpern said today: “We have long been huge admirers of Dougal’s work, his stunning visual creativity, his storytelling, heart, emotion and humour. We are so thrilled that Dougal will be directing the third Paddington film. We look forward to bringing Paddington back to Peru for his next big screen adventure.”

As per Michael Bond's original stories, Peru is where Paddington was born. We've seen extracts of his backstory in the previous two instalments, and the heartwarming end of the second movie culminated in the London arrival of his Aunt Lucy (voiced by Imelda Staunton). However, we've yet to see an entire adventure based in Peru.

It's not yet clear if Staunton or the rest of the familiar cast will return for Paddington in Peru. We can expect Ben Whishaw to lend his dulcet tones to the title character again. But the likes of Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins and Julie Walters are yet to be officially confirmed.

Breakout British star Florence Pugh has expressed her interest in starring in a Paddington movie, so will that pipe dream translate into a reality? We'll likely find out in due course.

 

With no release date forthcoming, we'll sate your appetite with this clip from the first Paddington movie.