After the allegations against co-founder Harvey Weinstein came out, The Weinstein Company has basically been falling apart. It started removing its name from previously released movies and pulling upcoming movies from the schedule all to avoid associating them with Harvey Weinstein, and last month an investor deal that could’ve saved the company fell through. With the threat of bankruptcy now looming, Variety says The Weinstein Company is now hoping it can unload the U.S. rights to Paddington 2 and make a little bit of extra money before it has to file for Chapter 11. The film opened in the U.K. last weekend, where it made $10.8 million, so The Weinstein Company is reportedly hoping that’ll make its U.S. rights a bit more valuable.
Currently, Sony is supposedly “in the lead position” to pick up the rights, but Variety says it’s concerned about “legal entanglements” that’ll pop up if it tries to buy Paddington 2. Meanwhile, the producers on Paddington 2 have been trying to get the rights back from The Weinstein Company, not wanting their cuddly bear movie to be associated with the scandal.