Paddington in Peru has set a new UK box office record after a successful opening weekend.
The third Paddington film arrived in cinemas across the UK and Ireland last Friday (November 8) and has raked in £9.7 million from opening weekend ticket sales.
According to Screen Daily, this officially makes the film 2024's biggest opening for a UK-produced film and the most successful opening weekend for the Paddington franchise - surpassing Paddington's £5.1 million and Paddington 2's £8.3 million opening weekends.
Related: Why isn't Sally Hawkins in Paddington 3?
Paddington 3's opening weekend also marked the third biggest at 2024's UK box office - just behind Deadpool & Wolverine (which profited £12.6 million) and Inside Out 2 (raking in £11.3 million).
It's also the biggest-ever opening for Studiocanal and notably beat recent family hits Despicable Me 4 and Wonka (both £8.9 million).
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Paddington's third outing saw new cast additions in the form of Olivia Colman and Antonio Banderas, with Emily Mortimer replacing Sally Hawkins in the role of Mary Brown.
Related: Paddington 3 credit scenes explained - how many are there?
In the film, the Brown family travel to Peru to reunite Paddington with his beloved Aunt Lucy (voiced by Imelda Staunton) - only to arrive and find that the elderly bear is missing somewhere in the Amazon rainforest.
Colman plays a Mother Superior, who heads up the Home for Retired Bears in Peru, meanwhile Puss in Boots star Banderas plays intrepid Amazon-based explorer Hunter Cabot.
Paddington in Peru debuted with an impressive Rotten Tomatoes rating of 92% and has been generally praised by critics.
Awarding the three-quel four stars, Digital Spy's Movies Editor Ian Sandwell said the movie "finds its paws and delivers everything you want, from inventive, witty visuals and quirky gags to a heartwarming message".
Paddington in Peru is in cinemas now.
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Emily is an experienced freelance entertainment writer and editor, reporting on all things TV, film, soaps and showbiz. An NCTJ-qualified journalist, with a First Class Honours degree in Journalism from the University of Sussex, Emily is a former Deputy News Editor and Evening News Editor at Digital Spy. She has previously worked at Hello magazine, BBC South News and GoodtoKnow.
A small and big-screen obsessive – with subscriptions to every TV and film service under the sun – Emily knows her movie stars from soap stars, and is always clued up on the latest reality show dumping, just-dropped trailer or off-screen spat. She's interviewed a number of celebrities over the years, with highlights including The Masked Singer host Joel Dommett and GMB's Kate Garraway (who "loved" her trousers).
Emily counts Sharon Horgan and Julia Davis as her TV heroes, and is a loyal Wes Anderson fan. LinkedIn
