I felt like this would be a fun story to write about. I discovered this development while penning my review for Mary Poppins Returns. As most of you who have read my previous works, I have written a lot about the Michael Eisner-Jeffrey Katzenberg era at Disney. Yet this may be a hidden gem.
When Jeffrey Katzenberg arrived at Disney in 1984. He was in charge of Disney’s motion picture division. Katzenberg was looking through the treasured Disney vault. “To see what jewels he could find,” according to Martin Kaplan, Vice President of Disney Live-Action at the time. “And Mary Poppins was the most guarded jewel of them all.”
Martin Kaplan visited Mary Poppins author P.L. Travers five times. He brought Jeffrey Katzenberg along twice. They were trying to figure out the perfect sequel pitch for Travers. Which they knew would be a difficult task. Walt Disney had a historically hard time getting P.L. Travers to do the first Mary Poppins film. Yet, the fresh new head of Disney’s motion picture division wanted to go for the big guns with a new iteration of Mary Poppins.
So the pitch that they came up with was a next generation story for Mary Poppins. They pitched to P.L. Travers that the story would take place with the Banks children all grown up and with Julie Andrews playing an older Mary Poppins. Travers despised the idea. Yet, she suggested a few tips for Katzenberg and Kaplan. Travers suggested that the sequel would take place one year after the original, with Andrews reprising her role. Kaplan also explained that the eccentric Travers had tons of rules. For example: “Mary Poppins cannot wear red because everyone knows Mary Poppins never wears red.” Kaplan discussed the bantering with Travers. “It just became impossible to deal with her. Finally, we gave up.”
Jeffrey Katzenberg wouldn’t be able to get his hands on the crown jewel at Disney. Katzenberg would help make Touchstone Pictures great at Disney. Along with the perfect storm of talent and circumstances, Disney’s animation studio would go through a renaissance. Which included films like The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King. Katzenberg also started Disney’s relationship with Pixar.
It is fascinating to think about how Katzenberg and Disney Studios would’ve approached a Mary Poppins sequel. It obviously wasn’t meant to be. Disney CEO Michael Eisner would fire Jeffrey Katzenberg in 1994. Katzenberg would then go team with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen to start DreamWorks. Mary Poppins author P.L. Travers died in 1996. Disney wouldn’t discuss anything with the Travers estate until Saving Mr. Banks. Estate fully approved the making of Saving Mr. Banks. In 2015, the idea for a sequel was back on. Travers estate approved without any hassles.
We ended up getting Mary Poppins Returns directed by Rob Marshall, and starring Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda. Disney is so pleased with the success there has already been the discussion of a sequel as reported by our friends at The DisInsider.
It would’ve been interesting to see Jeffrey Katzenberg and the 80s & 90s Disney crew approach to a Mary Poppins sequel. Especially with Julie Andrews reprising the character, and the possibility of Dick Van Dyke returning as an older Bert.
Now back to Katzenberg, even though he didn’t get the chance to play with Disney’s crown jewel. He was a part of the renaissance at Disney, and he went through a nasty breakup with Disney and founded DreamWorks SKG with David Geffen and Steven Spielberg. Now, Jeffrey Katzenberg is a part of WndrCo and his latest project is Quibi. Which is going to be a short form video platform. Coming from the minds of Hollywood and Silicon Valley.
Katzenberg along with his talented staff at Quibi have attracted big name talent to produce content for them. Including Jason Blum, Leonardo DiCaprio, Guillermo del Toro, and Steph Curry. Quibi was able to raise $1 billion from Disney, 21st Century Fox, NBCUniversal, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Viacom, AT&T’s WarnerMedia, Lionsgate, MGM, ITV and Entertainment One. Those are just Hollywood investors. The tech investors include Alibaba Group, Maldrone Capital Partners, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and John Malone’s Liberty Global.
Disney’s CEO Bob Iger released a statement of support:
Technology continues to open up new avenues for great storytelling, and we’re pleased to be part of this promising venture that will serve audiences with high-quality, short-form content designed especially for mobile viewing.
Jeffrey Katzenberg may have another crown jewel on his hands with Quibi. He plans to spend $1 billion on content by 2025. A slightly smaller number than Netflix but still significant for a start-up. Quibi should be interesting.
Zach Perilstein is the Editor-in-Chief of the Boardwalk Times
