Looks like Disney isn’t quite done adding to its already extensive list of live-action remakes. This time, however, this one is quite different. It’s not really a remake in the traditional sense, and you’ll see why.
The Hollywood Reporter recently broke the news that the studio is developing a new Mary Poppins movie. But, instead of being a straight remake (like most of the others), the new film will take place 20 years after the original 1964 classic that starred Julie Andrews in the titular role. The story will also take cues from the original book series by P.L. Travers (the first film was based largely on the first book) and will also be a musical like the original.
Rob Marshall, who recently helmed Into The Woods for Disney, will be in the director’s chair for this film. He will also be reunited with his Into The Woods producers John DeLuca and Marc Platt. David Magee (Finding Neverland and Life of Pi) will write the screenplay, while songwriters Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (Hairspray and NBC’s Smash) will compose new songs and an original score.
It is worth noting that P.L. Travers herself had a famously testy relationship with Walt Disney and the studio over the making of the original film (as depicted in the 2013 biopic Saving Mr. Banks). To that end, her estate will be involved in the making of the new movie.
Despite being of a very loose definition of the term (adaptation might be a more appropriate word, since it will draw from the books), this movie is the fifteenth in Disney’s slate of remakes/re-imaginings (or their sequels). Being that there are only four of them that carry a release date, whether or not the other eleven films on the slate will move forward may depend on the performance of those films.
The list goes as follows (including three sequels): The Jungle Book, Pete’s Dragon, Beauty and the Beast, Alice in Wonderland 2, Dumbo, Mulan, Winnie the Pooh, Pinocchio, Tink, Night on Bald Mountain, Maleficent 2, Prince Charming, Genies, The Sword in the Stone, and Untitled Mary Poppins Sequel.
What do you think? Any thoughts on the untitled Mary Poppins sequel? If you are familiar with the books, what would you like to see translated on the big screen?
Edited by: Kelly Conley
