After the billion-dollar success of Bill Condon’s Beauty and the Beast, which re-imagined the popular animated film as a full-on musical in the vein of MGM’s output in the 1940’s and 1950’s, I imagine that Disney is nothing but confident in Rob Marshall’s Mary Poppins Returns, a long-gap sequel to one of their most beloved features. Though not scheduled for release until next Christmas, the fine folks at Entertainment Weekly just dropped some gorgeous new stills from the movie, as well as some behind-the-scenes images and concept art. Let’s take a look.
What Marshall and his team appear to be aiming for with Mary Poppins Returns, at least from a visual perspective, is “eye-poppingly colorful.” The movie teased here is a bright one, retaining the look of the original film but upping the contrast up by at least 100%. And I gotta say, it’s working for me. In a world of grey-toned blockbusters, anything that looks even remotely colorful gets a huge pass from me. And while I imagine that any influence was most likely minimal, the still I used for the header image is giving me serious La La Land vibes.
Another thing that’s in the film’s favor is the cast, which is absolutely stacked. Besides Emily Blunt, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ben Whishaw, Emily Mortimer, and Meryl Streep, who are all present in the stills, the cast also includes Julie Walters, Angela Lansbury, Colin Firth, and even Dick Van Dyke himself. Everything there points to this being a winner.
Here is the synopsis for Mary Poppins Returns:
In 1935, during the era of the Great Depression in the United Kingdom, the now grown-up Jane and Michael Banks, along with Michael’s three children, are visited by their former nanny following a family tragedy that left them numb and joyless.
Mary Poppins Returns flies into theaters on December 25th, 2018.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
