List of abandoned projects

[The Disneynerd]

That test footage isn't "new". It was unearthed in 2008. There's even a whole thread about it, here.

Well atleast its new to me

[blackcauldron85]

That's really cool! Apparently I saw it all those years ago because I commented on that thread, but watching it felt fresh to me. And the link to the video, at least on my phone, is broken to that old blog post. In the comments on that blog, though, Hans Bacher said that he has an animation test of Magda. I wonder if that will ever appear online.

[Sotiris]

Aside from the sequel to Mary Poppins that was in the works in the late '80s, a fully-animated prequel was also in the works in the early '00s.

In August 2003 Harald Siepermann created character design for a project called Miss Mary Poppins, that was slated to be an animated feature film. The story treatment was developed by Greg Manwaring and Patrick Gleeson, and was a prequel to the beloved Walt Disney movie from 1964. It tells the story about a young Mary Poppins, and how she came to be the magical nanny. The project was developed for the Walt Disney studio. Harald Siepermann was asked by Greg Manwaring, with who he befriended since the days of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, to create character design for a young Mary Poppins, to have some visuals for the pitch of the project. While the people at the Walt Disney studio really liked the project, it was never green lit because at that time the Travers Estate did not allow the studio to develop anything further with the property.

Source: https://haraldsiepermann.com/2019/06/11 ... y-poppins/

[UmbrellaFish]

I’ve never heard of this project, thank you for sharing!

I don’t think the premise is particularly inspiring. I think a key element of Mary Poppins is her mystique— Disney should never answer too many questions about her, like her origin. It’s probably a good thing it was never realized but I’m glad some art from the project has surfaced.

[The Disneynerd]

I don’t think the premise is particularly inspiring. I think a key element of Mary Poppins is her mystique— Disney should never answer too many questions about her, like her origin. It’s probably a good thing it was never realized but I’m glad some art from the project has surfaced.

Agree with u Bumbershoot, overexplaining lore kills the magical aspect. Unfortunately, todays Disney would 99% greenlight this with no hesitatation, first Maleficent, then the Wish Godmother, then the rumored Hades prequel, this could be next any minute

And the link to the video, at least on my phone, is broken to that old blog post. In the comments on that blog, though, Hans Bacher said that he has an animation test of Magda. I wonder if that will ever appear online.

it didnt work for me either. Also WOW i would love to see the test, i know im repeating myself but this movie just fascinates me so much i will eat up every further little test, concept art or plot details we can get from this, this would have been WDAS Shrek before Shrek, could have been really unique and interesting

[Sotiris]

I just learned that Alan Menken had written songs for the shelved show "Little Mermaid's Island". It makes sense he would have worked on it since the show was being developed towards the end of the film's production. Not to mention, he had experience writing for Sesame Street. However, it's unknown if any of the songs from the two surviving episodes were written by him as the show reportedly went through multiple songwriters.

[Sotiris]

Disney had been developing The Little Broomstick in the '80s, and now it's coming out via another studio, called Mary and the Witch's Flower.
http://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_chief ... lower.aspx

A few sketches from the project by Mel Shaw.

http://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2025/07 ... stick.html

[The Disneynerd]

Stumbled over those My Peoples/ few good ghosts character tests that were discovered recently (almost 2 years lol)on discord via bio. The Classic that got away ...
https://youtu.be/YHDO_Iqnkgw?si=Epz6r4TDvwzKa0rW

[Sotiris]

Speaking of My Peoples, Andreas Deja recently shared the following on his blog.

My designs for the character of Rose. The movie's title was My Peoples. It ran into story issues and was eventually shelved. Rose and her love interest Elgin were going to be traditionally animated, while other characters such as a group of mechanical folklore puppets would appear as CG characters. I animated some test footage with her, and was looking forward to be working on a female protagonist. She was going to be voiced by actress Ashley Judd.

Source: http://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2025/10/rose.html