Mary Poppins Returns development hell since the release of the 1964 film. Walt Disney attempted to produce a sequel a year subsequent to the film's release, but was rejected by author P. L. Travers, who had openly dismissed Disney's film adaptation. In the late 1980s, then-chairman of Walt Disney Studios Jeffrey Katzenberg and vice-president of live-action production Martin Kaplan approached Travers with the idea of a sequel set years after the first film, with the Banks children now as adults and an older Mary Poppins with Julie Andrews reprising the role. Travers again rejected the proposed concept with the exception of Andrews' return.
Mary Poppins Returns pitch" while calling Shaiman and Wittman's songs as a "gravest disappointment", which she stressed out that "these are songs that get in your head, body, memory, and there’s nothing here with comparable melodic or lyrical staying power" in her negative comparison of the former to the Sherman Brothers' 1964 original songs, but praised Whishaw's performance as "emotional rawness". Mary Poppins Returns 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 of the same name