Lin-Manuel Miranda

Buckle up, the next generation of The Magic School Bus has arrived. The iconic kids’ show Rides Again with a first trailer for the revamped series, featuring SNL favorite Kate McKinnon as a new spin on the famous Ms. Frizzle, with a special guest role for Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Chim chiminey, chim chiminey, chim chim cheree, Emily Blunt’s Mary Poppins looks so darn lovelyyyy. (Sorry, never sorry.) As you might have guessed from my dumb little rhyme there, today brings some new photos from Mary Poppins Returns, Disney’s upcoming musical sequel in which Blunt steps into Julie Andrews’ whimsical shoes as the magical British nanny.

We still don’t know exactly when Disney’s DuckTales reboot will hit, but it certainly won’t throw away its shot when it does. Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda will be around to make sure of it, lending his voice to the robotic hero Gizmoduck.

When word got out that Emily Blunt had been cast as the title character in Disney’s Mary Poppins Returns, the overwhelming response from most people was, “Well, sure.” Blunt has proven herself to be genre agnostic over the years, as likely to wow audiences in a science-fiction or action film as she is in a light-hearted comedy. That alone would make her an ideal candidate for Mary Poppins  —  as the rare actress capable of convincing audiences that she’d do justice to an iconic character  —  but she also bears a physical resemblance to Julie Andrews to boot. You couldn’t ask for better casting.

What would an Oscars hosted by Jimmy Kimmel be without a new edition of Mean Tweets?

Today in news filed under No Doy, Lin-Manuel Miranda has confirmed what we’ve all suspected ever since Hamilton became a Broadway sensation: The inevitable film adaptation is definitely coming…just, not anytime in the imminent future. Between plotting epic fantasy franchises and working on animated feature projects, Miranda is a pretty busy guy, to say the least. Besides, he just finished his run on the hit historical musical. Give the man a moment, will you?

After months of rumormongering and speculating and debating over whether Lin-Manuel Miranda has what it takes to make the jump to the big screen from Broadway, sequel Mary Poppins Returns has finally begun shooting. Disney sent out an official press release yesterday announcing that the production was officially underway at Shepperton Studios in Burbank, California, with a project release date of Christmas Day in 2018. (Nothing gets people in the mood for a movie-musical quite like the holidays, it would seem, as director Rob Marshall’s last film Into the Woods found a release date in late December as well.) And along with the news that the gears are now turning, the press release provided a full cast list and more comprehensive description of the plot as well.

Sorry, Disney — you can’t have Lin-Manuel Miranda all to yourself anymore. The Hamilton creator has been diversifying his studio interests, recently getting behind an upcoming television adaptation of The Kingkiller Chronicle trilogy. Now, he’s adding another project to his increasingly busy — and impressive — schedule, providing a whopping 11 original songs for Sony’s new animated film, Vivo.

For eons humankind hath yearned for the male equivalent to Meryl Streep, and though we searched for many a fortnight, not one could be found. But lo! From Broadway on high came Lin-Manuel Miranda with the generous gift of Hamilton: An American Musical, and our long search came to a joyful end. Seriously, though, this guy is everywhere and does everything, and he’s adding yet another ambitious project to his plan for world domination.

It seems to me that Moana brought in two very different audiences this holiday weekend. For some, Moana was the newest entry in a long line of Disney princess movies and a step in the right direction for the studio in terms of inclusiveness and empowering young women. For others, it was a chance to cure their Lin-Manuel Miranda withdrawals after the turnover of the Hamilton cast and the end of the regular Ham4Ham sidewalk performances. That probably explains the odd mix of millennials and children at the recent matinee you attended.