Paddington Writers Join AI Animated Film Critterz

The writers behind one of last year’s most beloved family films are heading somewhere new — and very 2026. James Lamont and Jon Foster, the screenwriting duo who crafted Paddington in Peru, have signed on to pen Critterz, an animated feature being developed with artificial intelligence woven into every stage of its production. They’re joined on the script by Tom Butterworth, whose credits include Birthday Girl and the BBC drama Ashes to Ashes.

The project is directed by Nik Kleverov, co-founder of AI production studio Native Foreign, and produced alongside Chad Nelson — a creative strategist at OpenAI — as well as Allan Niblo and James Richardson of London-based Vertigo Films, which is part of Federation Studios. Pascal Breton, Lionel Uzan, Jane Moore, Stuart Ford and Aghi Koh round out the executive producer list.

Critterz is being positioned as nothing less than a landmark: the “first mainstream commercial family feature film created with artificial intelligence integrated throughout the production pipeline.” That’s a significant claim in an industry still actively debating where AI belongs — and where it doesn’t.

From Viral Short to Feature Film

The project has roots in a 2023 viral short of the same name, created by Nelson, which was the first piece of content to use OpenAI’s creative tools. That short clearly left an impression — enough to convince a full creative team to build a feature-length world around it.

The story follows “an anxious but brave little woodland creature who unites with a group of eccentric outcasts — each with their own peculiar quirks and hidden strengths — on a high-stakes quest to find her long-lost brother.” Think plucky underdog energy, found family dynamics, and a heroine whose strength comes from within. Lamont and Foster, who also worked on Cartoon Network’s The Amazing World of Gumball, seem well-suited to that kind of emotionally grounded adventure storytelling.

Kleverov, for his part, is swinging big with his vision. “‘Critterz’ will be a timeless film — a world that feels truly its own,” he said. “It will carry the wonder of the ’80s fantasy movies I grew up on — the scrappy, adventurous spirit of The Goonies and the mythic, emotional scope of The NeverEnding Story… combined with the scale of early Star Wars. It’s grounded in something deeply human: a fractured world finding its way back together. At the centre is a character whose greatest power isn’t force — it’s believing in herself, and her family.”

Those are enormous reference points to invoke. But the ambition is clearly intentional.

AGC Boards the Film Ahead of Cannes

Stuart Ford’s AGC Studios has come on board to handle worldwide sales, with AGC International set to launch the title and screen first-look footage to potential buyers at the Cannes Film Market this month.

Ford was enthusiastic about what the project represents. “We are thrilled to join Vertigo and Native Foreign in bringing the much-anticipated Critterz to the industry,” he said. “This ground-breaking feature demonstrates for the first time how AI can integrate into production without replacing artistry, becoming a tool for exploration rather than substitution. Filmmakers shape the story, characters and emotions, and AI provides the brushstrokes that we believe can bring a new franchise to life for families around the world.”

Richardson echoed that framing: “We’re delighted to be partnering with AGC to show the world how great artists and storytellers can utilize this incredible technology to do the only thing that really matters — make a great movie. Critterz is a beautiful, heartwarming and thrilling tale and Nik, Chad, the writers and the creative team have created something truly unique with the scale and ambition to wow, warm the hearts and put smiles on the faces of family audiences worldwide.”

The Cannes Complication

There’s an interesting wrinkle to all of this. The Cannes Film Festival itself has banned films that use AI as a principal authoring tool — though the technology is permitted in specific technical processes. The Cannes Film Market, where Critterz will be presented, operates under a more permissive framework, and it’s there that an increasing number of studios and creators are quietly testing what AI-assisted filmmaking can look like at a commercial scale.

Critterz is walking that line deliberately — positioning AI as a collaborative instrument rather than a replacement for human creativity. Whether buyers at Cannes, and eventually audiences at home, see it that way remains the real test. The talent attached — from the Paddington writers to a producer embedded at OpenAI — suggests the team is betting that the right creative voices can make the technology feel invisible, and the story feel anything but.