Heyday Films, the co-producers of Paddington 2, are likely to scrap a deal with The Weinstein Company to distribute the movie in the United States of America, The Guardian reported. The Paddington sequel is reportedly the biggest of the seven upcoming releases for the studio set up by the brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein.
The decision comes in the wake of multiple allegations of sexual harassment and rape against Harvey Weinstein. More than two dozen women, including the actors Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie and Rose McGowan, have accused the prominent Oscar-winning producer of sexual harassment following reports in The New York Times and The New Yorker which detailed “decades of abuse”.
Heyday Films and StudioCanal have co-produced the sequel to Paddington, which is based on the children’s book character, an anthropomorphised bear from Peru that moves in with a British family in London. Ben Wishaw voices the bear, while Hugh Bonneville stars as the head of the Brown family.
The first Paddington film grossed $268m worldwide in 2014 and was The Weinstein Company’s fourth largest film since its inception in 2005. Harvey Weinstein’s brother Bob had cited the box office potential of Paddington 2 as proof that the scandal-hit company was on solid footing.
Actor Channing Tatum has already severed his ties with The Weinstein Company, stepping down from a project he was developing with the studio on October 19. Weinstein’s company is likely to sell some or all of its assets to private-equity firm Colony Capital.
