Disney’s new Mary Poppins movie, starring Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda, and directed by Rob Marshall, is finally official! The sequel will be called Mary Poppins Returns and it will be released Christmas Day 2018. So, you’d imagine a third film to be called Mary Poppins Forever followed by Mary and Jack, then Mary Poppins Begins, followed by The Mary Poppins, The Mary Poppins Rises and then rebooted with Mary Poppins V Amelia Bedelia.
Emily Blunt in Into the Woods. She’s reuniting with that film’s director for Mary Poppins
Blunt will, of course, play the title character and Miranda will be a new character, a lamplighter named Jack. Here’s how Disney describes the plot:
Drawing from the wealth of material in P.L. Travers’ seven additional novels, the story will take place in Depression-era London (when the books were originally written) and follows a now-grown Jane and Michael Banks, who, along with Michael’s three children, are visited by the enigmatic Mary Poppins following a personal loss. Through her unique magical skills, and with the aid of her friend Jack, she helps the family rediscover the joy and wonder missing in their lives.
The release doesn’t mention if Miranda is, indeed, doing any music for the film but since he contributed not just to The Force Awakens, but the upcoming Moana too, it seems likely that he’ll make a contribution. (The press release says “Oscar nominee and Tony Award winner Marc Shaiman composing an all-new score and Shaiman and Emmy nominee and Tony Award winner Scott Wittman writing original songs”.)
“I am truly humbled and honored to be asked by Disney to bring P.L. Travers’ further adventures to the screen,” said Marshall in a press release. “The iconic original film means so much to me personally, and I look forward to creating an original movie musical that can bring Mary Poppins, and her message that childlike wonder can be found in even the most challenging of times, to a whole new generation.”
Mary Poppins was originally a book by PL Travers, published in 1934. Walt Disney adapted it with Julie Andrews for five-Oscars-worth of success in 1964, and Travers followed that up with seven novels.