This sequel to the 1964 Disney film ‘Mary Poppins’ opens in London, England during a time that is being called a Great Slump (the Great Depression of the 1930s). A lamp lighter named Jack (Lin-Manuel Miranda) rides his bike around town, singing about the city’s beauties despite the depression ((“Underneath The) Lovely London Sky”). He rides down Cherry Tree Lane where the eccentric Admiral Boom (David Warner) complains to Mr. Binnacle (Jim Norton) that Big Ben’s chimes are coming in late.
Michael Banks (Ben Whishaw) still lives in his parents’ home as a widow with his children John (Nathanael Saleh), Annabel (Pixie Davies), and Georgie (Joel Dawson), along with housekeeper Ellen (Julie Walters). Michael’s sister Jane (Emily Mortimer) is there as well, trying to help her brother handle things around the house. Two lawyers from Fidelity Fiduciary Bank, Hamilton Gooding (Jeremy Swift) and Templeton Frye (Kobna Holdbrook-Smith), show up to leave a notice of repossession on the front door.
They explain that because Michael has failed to pay back a loan, his house is to be taken by the bank unless he pays it back by Friday at midnight. Michael remembers that his father kept a certificate of ownership to some shares in the bank, and he goes upstairs to find them, but he starts to worry about handling things without his wife Kate around (“A Conversation”). Jane joins him upstairs to help look for the certificate, but they instead find an old kite from their childhood. Michael dismisses it as garbage.
The children go off to the shop, when the kite blows away and catches Georgie’s eye. He runs after it but is pulled away by the wind, and John and Annabel run after him. Georgie is caught by Jack, who helps him fly the kite properly, but it gets pulled in by the wind. The clouds then separate, and to their surprise, down comes Mary Poppins (Emily Blunt) floating with the kite. She addresses the children by their names and greets Jack, knowing him as an apprentice of Bert the chimney sweep. Mary then guides the children back home.
Upon returning to the Banks home, Michael and Jane are stunned to see Mary having come back after all these years and having not aged a single day. She tells them she has returned to look after the Banks children, meaning both Michael and Jane and Michael’s kids. Mary heads up to her room to settle down. Michael and Jane remember Mary but aren’t sure if all the magic they witnessed was real.
Mary has the children take a bath due to them being covered in filth from running around through the park. She adds a magical soap to the water and has the children jump in to be taken to an underwater world (“Can You Imagine That?”), leaving the children in awe. Michael and Jane go to the bank to speak to its president, William Weatherall Wilkins (Colin Firth), to discuss the matter of George Banks’s shares that could help save the house. Wilkins looks through his documents but claims to find nothing relating to the Banks family. He assures Michael and Jane that he will continue to look, but after they leave, he tears out the page with the Banks name on it and he throws it in the fireplace.
That night, as Mary is talking to Jack, the children discuss selling their mother’s China bowl to save their house. The three have an argument over it, which leads to them dropping and cracking it. Mary picks it up and shows the children that the man drawn on the bowl is talking to them because they damaged his carriage.
Mary spins the bowl and transports herself, Jack, and the children into the animated world of the bowl. They meet the coachman Shamus (Chris O’Dowd), who is a dog, and his horse Clyde (Mark Addy). After fixing the carriage, Mary, Jack, and the kids join Shamus on a carriage ride as they head to a new destination (“Royal Doulton Music Hall”).
Mary Poppins Returns is a 2018 American musical fantasy film directed by Rob Marshall, with a screenplay written by David Magee and a story by Magee, Marshall, and John DeLuca. Based on the book series Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers, the film is a sequel to the 1964 film Mary Poppins, and stars Emily Blunt as the eponymous character with Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ben Whishaw, Emily Mortimer, Julie Walters, Dick Van Dyke, Angela Lansbury, Colin Firth, and Meryl Streep in supporting roles as well as introducing Joel Dawson and Tarik Frimpong in their film debut. Set twenty-five years after the original film, it sees Mary Poppins, the former nanny of Jane and Michael Banks, returning after a family tragedy.
As of January 20, 2019, Mary Poppins Returns has grossed $158.7 million in the United States and Canada, and $147.3 million in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $306 million, against a production budget of $130 million.[4]
In the United States and Canada, the film was projected to gross $49-51 million from 4,090 theatres over its first five days (including around $35 million in its first weekend) and a total of $75 million over its first week of release. The film made $4.8 million on its first day of release and $4.1 million on its second. It went on to gross $23.5 million its opening weekend (a total of $32.3 million over its first five days).
Finishing below expectations but second at the box office behind fellow newcomer Aquaman. It then made $6.1 million on Monday and $11.5 million on Christmas Day for total week opening of $49.9 million. In its second weekend the film increased by 20.5% to $28.4 million, remaining in second, and in its third weekend made $15.9 million, finishing third behind Aquaman and newcomer Escape Room.
Mary Poppins Returns (2018)
Directed by: Rob Marshall
Starring: Emily Blunt, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ben Whishaw, Emily Mortimer, Pixie Davies, Nathanael Saleh, Joel Dawson, Meryl Streep, Julie Walters, Colin Firth, Jeremy Swift, Angela Lansbury
Screenplay by: David Magee
Production Design by: John Myhre
Cinematography by: Dion Beebe
Film Editing by: Wyatt Smith
Costume Design by: Sandy Powell
Set Decoration by: Gordon Sim
Art Direction by: Steve Carter, Amanda Dazely, Simon Elsley
Elaine Kusmishko, Niall Moroney, Vicki Stevenson, Patrick M. Sullivan
Music by: Marc Shaiman
MPAA Rating: PG for some mild thematic elements and brief action.
Distributed by: Walt Disney Pictures
Release Date: December 19, 2018
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