Paddington 2 director pities Orson Welles after surpassing Citizen Kane on Rotten Tomatoes

Paul King at the Paddington 2 premiere.
(Image credit: Earl Gibson III/Getty Images)

There is finally an answer to the age-old question: Citizen Kane or Paddington 2?

Paddington 2 is the greatest movie of all time, judging by the Fresh ratings on Rotten Tomatoes — Paddington 2 has 100 percent on the review site, and Citizen Kane a measly 99 percent.

But Paddington writer and director Paul King isn't letting the title get to his head, he told The Hollywood Reporter. If today's technology had been around in 1941, King said Orson Welles might have been able to make a film "nearly as good" as Paddington 2. "But he had to make do. He had muster his meager talent into merely knocking out Citizen Kane," King said.

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Citizen Kane was bumped out of the No. 1 Rotten Tomatoes spot due to an unearthed 1941 Chicago Tribune review that decried the film's status as the greatest of all time: "Its sacrifice of simplicity to eccentricity robs it of distinction and general entertainment value."

King says the titular bear would react to the news by "crack[ing] open the marmalade and hav[ing] a second sandwich." Perhaps after that sandwich it's time to work on movie about the making of Paddington, à la Mank.

Read more at The Hollywood Reporter.

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Taylor Watson

Taylor Watson is audience engagement editor for TheWeek.com and a former editorial assistant. She graduated from Syracuse University, with a major in magazine journalism and minors in food studies and nutrition. Taylor has previously written for Runner's World, Vice, and more.