Paddington In Peru scores biggest British film opening in three years at the UK & Irish box office

PADDINGTON IN PERU opened at number one at the box office this weekend as an estimated 1.2m people flocked to cinemas across the UK & Ireland to see it, with the £9.65m three-day box office total making it the biggest British opening of 2024 so far.

The film, developed, produced and distributed by STUDIOCANAL, becomes the company’s biggest ever opening weekend and is the third biggest opening of the year to-date, behind only Deadpool & Wolverine (£17.2m) and Inside Out 2 (11.3m).

PADDINGTON IN PERU’s opening weekend number was bigger than The Super Mario Bros Movie [£8.7m exl. previews] and ahead of Incredibles 2 (£9.4m),Wonka (opening weekend £8.9m) Despicable Me 4 (£8.8m) and Mary Poppins Returns (£8.2m).

Opening in 732 cinemas, the widest site count of the year so far, PADDINGTON IN PERU becomes the sixth biggest British film to open in the past decade with only No Time to Die, Spectre, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald & Dunkirk ahead of it. It also becomes the tenth largest family film to open in the last ten years.

PADDINGTON IN PERU is based on the best-selling and internationally adored series of children's stories by British author Michael Bond with a story by Paul King, Simon Farnaby and Mark Burton and a screenplay by Mark Burton, Jon Foster and James Lamont.

The film was shot on location in London, Peru and Colombia and is fully financed and developed by STUDIOCANAL who will also distribute the film in France, Germany, Benelux, Poland, Australia and New Zealand as well as through partners in China and Japan. Sony Pictures will distribute in the USA, Canada and other key international territories including Latin America. STUDIOCANAL also fully financed and developed Paddington & Paddington 2.