Disney has released the first image of Golden Globe winner Emily Blunt as Mary Poppins in “Mary Poppins Returns.” The movie is being made as a sequel to the original 1964 Walt Disney Classic “Mary Poppins.”
We see her standing in front of what appears to be 17 Cherry Tree Lane. It’s looking a little more forlorn than when last we saw it. The movie is set 30 years after the original and follows the Banks family now with children of their own. Mary Poppins, who doesn’t appear to have aged very much, re-enters the lives of the Banks family and brings her friend Jack, who is a lamplighter. Of course there will be the usual Mary Poppins magic too.
“Mary Poppins Returns” will be released in U.S. theaters on December 25, 2018.
About the film:
Directed and produced by Rob Marshall, “Mary Poppins Returns” also stars Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ben Whishaw, Emily Mortimer and Julie Walters with Colin Firth and Meryl Streep. The film, which introduces three new Banks children, played by Pixie Davies, Nathanael Saleh and newcomer Joel Dawson, also features Dick Van Dyke and Angela Lansbury. The film is set in 1930s depression-era London (the time period of the original novels) and is drawn from the wealth of material in PL Travers’ additional seven books. In the story, Michael (Whishaw) and Jane (Mortimer) are now grown up, with Michael, his three children and their housekeeper, Ellen (Walters), living on Cherry Tree Lane. After Michael suffers a personal loss, the enigmatic nanny Mary Poppins (Blunt) re-enters the lives of the Banks family, and, along with the optimistic street lamplighter Jack (Miranda), uses her unique magical skills to help the family rediscover the joy and wonder missing in their lives. Mary Poppins also introduces the children to a new assortment of colorful and whimsical characters, including her eccentric cousin, Topsy (Streep).
The film is produced by Marshall, John DeLuca (“Chicago”) and Marc Platt (“La La Land”). The screenplay is by David Magee (“Life of Pi”) based on The Mary Poppins Stories by PL Travers with Marc Shaiman (“Hairspray”) and Scott Wittman (“Hairspray”) writing all new songs and Shaiman composing an original score.