D23 Expo Live-Action Panel: MARY POPPINS RETURNS, AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR and More!

But this wasn’t any ordinary Con. This was D23, and I had never been to an event where footage from upcoming tent-pole pictures – some where the anticipation levels are stratospheric – were being unveiled in front of the entire world.

Sitting there in Hall E with the largest assembly of passionate fans I had ever been included with, you could feel the excitement and pop when actors such as Robert Downey, Jr, or Mark Hammil, or Oprah Winfrey would take the stage. And then there was the silence of the crowd before new footage would play, the electricity and adrenaline that rushes over as the footage is unveiled, and the noise afterwards rising and rising until it hits deafening levels…

This was my first time seeing footage from movies like Jon Favreau’s The Lion King, Rob Marshall’s Mary Poppins Returns, and Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War. But it wasn’t simply my first time seeing the footage – it was EVERYONE’S first time seeing it!

THE LION KING

The original animated classic is a movie I hold particularly dear to my heart. It has always been my personal favorite Disney picture, and its artistic merit and power has only grown with time. I watch it at least once a year, and even with the traditional animation that might seem quaint to the current generation of young moviegoers (or parents that just need to put something on to keep the kids quiet at home for an hour and a half) the movie’s power is undeniable.

As such I looked at this footage with a particular amount of nervousness, but also anticipation, not unlike the way I viewed the first trailer for the remake of my all-time favorite movie RoboCop several years ago (I hated that by the way).

The footage presented was a painstakingly faithful recreation of the opening moments of the original classic. The wide shot of the rising sun, the shot of bugs crawling on a branch in the foreground of the frame that racks focus to the horde of animals marching in the background…the looks of the characters are exactly as they were in the original, albeit updated in photorealistic CGI. The opening musical number is exactly the same, the framing of the final moments where Rifiki raises Simba high for all to see at Pride Rock before the opening title card silences everything… all of that was recreated to a T.

And for that exact reason I am not a fan of this particular telling of the story.

I am absolutely acknowledging that I am likely in the minority camp here. The pop that this footage got was among the loudest of the day, and many fans were gushing over it after the fact.

But I love the original so much, that there needs to be a reason to try updating it. Simply converting everything to live action is not enough for me. If the entire movie is a straight-up rehash just with photorealistic animals, then to me that is a creatively bankrupt exercise in milking a sure bet to make money by playing the nostalgia card for a certain demographic.

I will stop myself from being a complete curmudgeon here. This was after all the first few minutes of the film and there is no saying how the rest of the movie will play out, or if the new cast will help imbue the film with its own sense of identity (though the return casting of James Earl Jones doesn’t help). The way the footage played out it was not a teaser, but more a proof-of-concept piece – something to illustrate to the audience how sophisticated the technology that will be employed is and the degree of reverence.

I am personally cautious about this movie, but the crowd completely ate it up. And there is no doubt it will make sooooooooooooo much money.

MARY POPPINS RETURNS

Moving along to another update of sorts to a classic, Rob Marshall and Emily Blunt took the stage to unveil footage of Mary Poppins Returns, currently scheduled for release on Christmas day in 2018. Though unlike The Lion King, MPR is a full-on sequel. Treating the original as canon and adapting one of the follow-up books, this is a sequel through and through.

I must confess some ignorance to the material as I have never actually seen the original (I know, I know), but that being said through pop-culture osmosis I am more than familiar with a lot of the musical themes and iconography associated with the film.

We were treated to a slew of pictures that and production still that paint the picture of what is to come here: in Depression-era London, Michael Banks (Ben Whishaw) struggles while raising his three kids alone; a heartless banker (Colin Firth) tries to take his home away from him, and then when a green kite flies out into the sky down comes Mary Poppins to come to the rescue.

Rob Marshall explained that the original classic is one of the first films he can remember seeing that truly stuck with him and made an impact. He was terrified, but excited at the concept of adding to the film’s legacy, and admitted to not knowing of the additional books in the series.

For Emily Blunt, she was a big fan of the original growing up, and found the idea of a mystery person coming to help out with various issues as comforting. She admitted to re-watching the original in preparation for her role here, but stopped after 15 minutes so the original would not influence her performance any further.

Filming finished a few weeks ago, so the teaser was less an indication of plot and more a montage of images that help set up the world. And this was all scored to a live orchestra led by composer and song-writer Marc Shaiman.

You can tell that Mr. Banks is having a rough time, but that he is a deeply good man trying to keep things together for his children. We see a green kite inside a trash bin outside the house that gets flown by one of his kids. The boy struggles to hold on to it, and when the clouds part, cast in silhouette, we see the shape of Mary Poppins riding it down to earth.

What followed was a quick succession of shots showcasing Lin Manuel-Maranda as Lamplighter Jack, Maryl Streep as Topsy, Angela Lansbury as the Kindly Balloon Lady, and Dick Van Dyke (every time he was shown he got a huge pop from the crowd) as Mr. Dawes the bank manger.

The footage was respectful to the original, and it seems to wear its heart on its sleeve. The tone is very evocative of the original (what I know of anyway) and the audience was vociferous in its approval.

AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR

And moving on to my personal favorite of all the footage was Marvel’s presentation.

Kevin Feige took the stage and announced all the cast members who came out to the stage. Short of a few exceptions, it seemed as if every protagonist from the MCU to date came out. Beginning with the chief antagonist of Josh Brolin as Thanos, we saw Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Karen Gillian, Dave Batista, Don Cheadle, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Benedict Cumberbatch (who got a particular pop), Tom Holland, Chadwick Boseman, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, and saving the most popular for last was Robert Downey Jr.

Indeed, it seemed Batista not withstanding, none of the Guardians heroes came out, nor did Chris Evans, Tom Hiddleston, or Scarlett Johansson.

The footage screened began with a 10-retrospective of all the MCU movies to date before segueing into footage of the Guardians of the Galaxy. No announcement that we’re seeing anything new, just a seamless transition to the Guardians. At first it seemed it might have been a deleted scene, or something from the new movie that is not quite as well-known….but then Thor, sporting his short hair from his new stand-alone movie, flies into the windshield of Star Lord’s ship.

And then the rush of anticipation came about the crowd…

Footage from Infinity War was beginning! The Guardians let him in, and Thor scowls “who the hell are you?!”

We see Loki holding the Tesseract. We hear Thanos talking about how balancing the universe is not supposed to be fun, but causing destruction to Earth makes him smile.

Thanos emerges from a black portal with the Gauntlet on, ready for battle. Spider-Man wears the new Iron Spider suit teased at the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming. Similar to Billy Crudup’s hairs on his arms raising before becoming Dr Manhattan in Watchmen, is a shot of Peter Parker in a schoolbus. Possibly a way of showing his Spidey Sense? He certainly gets a beating in this one, as there is a scene where he is lying on the ground, gravely wounded, and apologizing to a nurturing Tony Stark.

A brooding Captain America with a beard (interesting: this detail got a big rush). Star Lord shoots a sci-fi gun. Dr. Strange does his magic. Black Panther leads an army of Wakandan followers.

The final money shot was Thanos using the Gauntlet to take the planet’s moon and turn it into a series of meteors and asteroids to bring an ungodly wave of destruction….

It’s unclear if they were fighting on Earth, but wherever they were it certainly evoked a post-Apocalyptic sense of war.

All of this is early footage, with CGI that will undoubtedly get improved as the movie progresses. Though I felt Spider-Man and Ant Man were arbitrarily placed in Civil War, so far it seems the Guardians and everyone else fits in this movie perfectly. Curious and hopeful to see it not as a big, overstuffed affair.

Something this footage certainly makes clear: Thanos will be a true menacing threat. With the exception of Loki and recently The Vulture, the MCU has not had many memorable villains, but that could very well change with Infinity War.

I can’t wait for more. I can’t wait for the footage to go on-line. I can’t wait to hear what happens at Comic-Con, I can’t wait for the first official 5-second teaser for the teaser, I can’t wait for the official trailer.