Paddington will not be Americanized for American audiences, the boss of the company behind the film franchise has promised.
“He’s the most British bear. He appealed to a lot of people because he’s authentic,” declared Maxime Saada, general director of Canal+.
The news comes as the French streaming company, which owns the film rights to the iconic British bear, began trading on the London Stock Exchange on Monday.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves described it as a “vote of confidence” in the London market, which has struggled to attract new businesses in recent years.
Canal+ is being spun off from media stable Vivendi and plans to continue its global expansion from its new London base.
Mr Saada told the BBC that Canal+ had received “feedback from American companies that Paddington Bear is not American enough”.
“To maximize the box office of Paddington, we could have made an American film.”
But he says the British bear's legacy will be preserved.
“It really is our most valuable intellectual property…we take great care to be very close to its roots and its authenticity.”
Canal+ is behind streaming successes like Versailles and its subsidiary StudioCanal holds the rights to numerous films including Total Recall, the Shaun the Sheep and Bridget Jones franchises, and more recently the Amy Winehouse biopic, Back to Black, as well as than the three films featuring the marmalade-munching bear.
The company is present in 50 countries and has 27 million subscribers, two-thirds of whom are outside France.
The latest Paddington film, released last month, shows the bear and his adopted British family returning to his roots in Peru amid a series of accidents.
Canal+'s listing in London follows years of concerns about the stock market's poor performance, with companies including construction group Ashstead and chipmaker Arm leaving the market to list on the stranger. Others have chosen to go private.
The London Stock Exchange is set to experience its worst year in terms of departures since the 2008 financial crisis.
Some 88 companies have delisted or transferred their main listing from the main London market, with only 18 taking their place. This is the largest net outflow since 2009.
Economists say a thriving stock market is important for boosting the economy because it helps companies raise money by allowing them to sell shares.
This gives businesses the funds they need to borrow and invest in new projects, create jobs and expand, which in turn drives economic growth.
Chinese fast fashion giant Shein also plans to list on the London Stock Exchange in 2025.
Mr Saada said the new flexibility of the LSE rules and the UK's strong creative industry played a role in persuading him to choose London.
“We suddenly aroused a lot of curiosity from American investors, British investors, investors from all over the world and we don't think that could have happened by listing anywhere else in Europe.”
“We have a long history of working with the creative industries here in the UK and that is very important to us as well.”
The IPO is expected to value the company at up to €6bn (£4.99bn).
Two other Vivendi subsidiaries are also going public: the advertising and communications company Havas will be listed in Amsterdam and the French publisher Louis Hachette in Paris.
But the headquarters of Canal+ will remain in Paris and corporate tax will still be paid in France.
The entertainment company released Paddington 3 last month and the film grossed £9.65 million ($12.4 million) over three days at the UK and Ireland box office.
Mr Saada said Paddington 4 was “definitely not happening tomorrow”, but confirmed the company was working on a sequel and animated series.
