Steve attended the American Film Market (AFM) last week and was able to bring back some promo posters, images, and synopses for a number of projects currently in development.  Today we’re happy to share a lengthy synopsis for the upcoming adaptation of the best-selling Paddington Bear childrens books.  The live-action/CGI-animated adaptation, titled Paddington, will be directed by Paul King and produced by David Heyman (the Harry Potter franchise).

This synopsis likens the film to E.T. and Mr. Bean, as the story centers on a young bear that was raised as an anglophile by his Aunt Lucy in Peru and is left lost and alone at London’s Paddington Station when Lucy decides it’s time to go to England in search of a better life.  While staying with a kind family who takes him in, Paddington sets out in search of an explorer who inspired his aunt years before, avoiding a sinister taxidermist and unintentionally bringing comic mayhem.  Hit the jump to read the full synopsis.

Here’s the synopsis:

From the producer of HARRY POTTER, a modern take on the iconic and beloved adventures of Paddington bear, translated into 40 languages worldwide.

Adapted from Michael Bond’s beloved books, PADDINGTON tells the story of a polite young bear from Peru with an endearing talent for comic chaos, who arrives in London in search of a home.

Paddington has grown up deep in the Peruvian jungle with his Aunt Lucy who, inspired by a chance encounter with an English explorer, has raised her nephew to cook marmalade, listen to the BBC World Service, and dream of an exciting life in London.  When an earthquake destroys their home, Aunt Lucy decides the time has come to smuggle her young nephew on board a boat bound for England, in search of a better life.  Trusting of the kindness of strangers, she ties a label round his neck which simply reads ‘Please look after this bear.  Thank you.’

Lost and alone at Paddington Station, Paddington soon finds that London is not the welcoming, well-mannered land of his dreams, but a rather busy, bustling metropolis where nobody even notices him.  Luckily, he meets the Brown family who feel unable to abandon this homeless young bear to his fate.  They name him after the station where they found him and offer him a place to stay while he searches for the only person he knows in London: the explorer who impressed Aunt Lucy years before.

But little do the Browns realize just how much comic mayhem one young bear will bring to their family life, and when this rarest of bears catches the eye of a sinister, seductive taxidermist, it isn’t long before his home – and very existence – is under threat…

Following in the footsteps of E.T., Paddington tells the universal tale of an outsider trying to find his place in the world – and gives it an exuberant comic twist.  Like Mr. Bean, Paddington promises to delight and enchant the whole family.