Emily Blunt sings, dances, and performs childcare magic in new 'Mary Poppins Returns' trailer

You can’t keep a good nanny — or franchise — down, or so Disney hopes to prove by bringing back to theaters everyone’s favorite flying childcare expert with December’s Mary Poppins Returns, a sequel to the 1964 classic that will see Emily Blunt step into Julie Andrews’s fabled shoes. Now, we have our biggest, and best, look yet at the upcoming star-studded musical, which will aim to be the most supercalifragilistic release of the upcoming holiday season.

Set 25 years after the original film (which confirms that Mary is an ageless wonder), Mary Poppins Returns will see the well-dressed nanny once again visiting London’s No. 17 Cherry Tree Lane, which is now home to all-grown-up Michael Banks (Ben Whishaw), who’s grieving the loss of his wife and struggling to keep himself (and his three kids) afloat in the face of encroaching ruin. Luckily for him, Mary’s arrival quickly turns everything around. And as evidenced by the above promo, that change of fortunes will come via help from lamplighter Jack (Lin-Manuel Miranda) — a protégé of Dick Van Dyke’s Bert — as well as quite a bit of song-and-dance magic set both in the clouds (Jack literally rides a bike in the sky) and under the sea, with tunes courtesy of Hairspray’s Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman.

Mary will also be aided in her mission by a gaggle of impressive supporting players, including Emily Mortimer as Michael’s sister, Jane; Colin Firth as Fidelity Fiduciary Bank President William Weatherall Wilkins; Julie Walters as Michael’s housekeeper, Ellen; Meryl Streep as Mary’s eccentric cousin Topsy; Angela Lansbury as the Balloon Lady; and Dick Van Dyke as an as-yet-undefined bearded character (who’s not original lamplighter Bert) with a penchant for breaking into dance atop office desks. And if you feared that director Rob Marshall (Into the Woods) might skip the lavish old-school animated numbers that were a hallmark of the first film — replete with dancing penguins — this trailer will surely put such worries to rest.

Not content with simply dropping the above live-action trailer, the film has also debuted a new poster as well:

Mary Poppins Returns theatrical poster. (Image: Disney)
Mary Poppins Returns theatrical poster. (Image: Disney)

Mary Poppins Returns flies into theaters on Dec. 19.

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