'Mary Poppins' to take flight again

A new Depression-era Mary Poppins will be flying onto the big screen.

Into the Woods and Chicago director Rob Marshall will direct the live-action revisit of the beloved Disney 1964 movie, which starred Julie Andrews as the flying, magical nanny.

Two sources familiar with the film project, but unauthorized to speak publicly about it, confirmed the news to USA TODAY.

The new Poppins film will take place about 20 years after the original and will draw from existing tales from author P.L. Travers' book series. So expect more adventures with the Banks family, according to Entertainment Weekly.

The report states that the songwriting duo of Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman will compose original songs and a new score. David Magee will write the screenplay.

The difficulties working with the prickly author Travers for the original Mary Poppins were highlighted onscreen in 2013's Saving Mr. Banks, which showed Tom Hanks as Walt Disney going through hoops to persuade Travers (Emma Thompson) to allow the film.

No such problems are apparent in the follow-up. The EW report states that Disney and Marshall are collaborating with the Travers estate and have already won support from Poppins co-composer Richard Sherman who wrote classic songs from the original with his late brother Robert.