AN award-winning Scottish comedy legend is set to write the next Paddington film.
Armando Iannucci, known for creating satirical shows such as The Thick of It and Veep, will write the upcoming fourth Paddington movie in the Studiocanal franchise.
According to Variety, Iannucci will be joined by his long-standing co-writer Simon Blackwell, while Dougal Wilson, who made his feature debut with the third film, Paddington in Peru, is in talks to return as director.
The three Paddington films released so far - Paddington (2014), Paddington 2 (2017) and Paddington in Peru (2024) - brought in a combined $800 million in the box office worldwide.
The first two films were directed by Paul King, who also wrote the first film and co-wrote the second with Simon Barnaby.
The third film, directed by Wilson, was written by Mark Burton, Jon Foster and James Lamont.
The fourth Paddington movie was only officially announced earlier this year.
Speaking at CinemaCon last month, Studiocanal CEO Anna Marsh revealed that the film was in development, but shared little else other than that "world-renowned comedy writers" had been hired".
Among other things, Iannucci has helped to create the TV character Alan Partridge, wrote for The Day Today, and created HBO's Avenue 5.
He also co-wrote and directed the Oscar-nominated movie In the Loop, along with the 2017 film The Death of Stalin, which stars Jason Isaacs, Steve Buscemi and Michael Palin.
Iannucci is also currently competing on the latest series of Channel 4's Taskmaster, hosted by Greg Davies and Alex Horne.
While there is no release date confirmed for the fourth Paddington film, in 2024 Studiocanal said it estimated the film would come out in 2027 or 2028 to coincide with Paddington's 70th anniversary.
