Disney and Rob Marshall are developing a live-action musical featuring beloved nanny Mary Poppins, an individual with knowledge of the project told TheWrap Monday.
Marshall will direct. John DeLuca and Marc Platt, who worked with Marshall on “Into the Woods,” will serve as executive producers. The big-screen version of the musical was a hit for Disney last year, grossing more than $210 million.
The new Poppins film will take place in Depression-era London, some 20 years after Disney’s 1964 classic starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, and will draw from existing Poppins tales in the rest of author P.L. Travers’ children’s book series.
The songwriting duo Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (“Hairspray,” TV’s “Smash”) will compose original songs and a new score; David Magee (“Finding Neverland”) is attached to write the screenplay.
Disney addressed the making of “Mary Poppins” in the 2013 film “Saving Mr. Banks,” which starred Emma Thompson as Travers and Tom Hanks as Walt Disney.
Disney has mined its film vaults extensively of late, scoring big at the box office with reboots of its fairy tales “Cinderella” and “Maleficent,” and has a live-action “Beauty and the Beast” remake in the works, with Emma Watson and Luke Evans to star.