Click through to see the full gallery. (Disney)

“When the world sees Dumbo fly, the question in the movie that’s exciting for a live-action reimagining is “how will the world react?”, and that’s manifested through one character, this guy V.A. Vandevere (Michael Keaton), this entertainment magnate who’s sort of like Louis B. Mayer meets George Westinghouse meets P.T. Barnum,” explains producer Justin Springer.
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Thandie Newton’s lookalike daughter Nico Parker plays Milly Farrier, daughter of Holt, a Great War veteran played by Colin Farrell. “He comes back[from the war] as a single father, ill-equipped to deal with parenthood,” explains Farrell. “Ill-equipped to deal with the changes that are taking place in the circus, in the industry of performers.” (Disney)

Colette, who forms a close bond with Colin Farrell’s Holt Farrier, rides Dumbo twice in the film. (Disney)

Mrs. Jumbo protects her son. All the animals in the film are CGI, but they don’t talk like the original, and Mrs. Jumbo’s fellow female elephants aren’t in the film. (Disney)

“Medici has a big pressure in the beginning to keep the circus alive, because it’s a very, very tough time,” explains Danny DeVito about his character. “It was 1919, that’s when it takes place, and they were like fading, the circuses, the little circuses, because all the big ones were taking over.” (Disney)

Eva Green’s look for the film was inspired by silent screen stars. (Disney)

The production did extensive research into the world of travelling circuses in the 20th century for added authenticity. (Disney)

Dumbo’s high-flying act brings in the punters to Medici’s circus, and begins to catch the attention of the wider world. (Disney)

Dumbo is captivated by Colette Marchant’s trapeze act. (Disney)

You’ll believe an elephant can fly. (Disney)

Vandevere’s Dreamland circus is a permanent amusement park in Coney Island, New York, and was inspired by real parks built on the site in the early part of the 20th century. (Disney)

The film was shot entirely on sound stages at Pinewood Studios. The cavernous Cardington Hangars in Bedford were transformed into the 10,000 capacity Dreamland circus. (Disney)

Dumbo and the Medici circus is acquired by Vandevere to become the central attraction of Dreamland. (Disney)

“In the last sequence of the film [Colette] wears this big red skirt,” says costume designer Coleen Atwood. “These girls on the side – there’s a huge kind of Busby Berkeley number in the film, called the layer cake, and it’s a huge synchronised dance number. There were 60 of these girls. It was pretty amazing to see all that happening.”
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“I don’t have a black and white stripe anywhere [in the film], because it’s so predictably Tim [Burton],” shares Atwood. “But, if you look at those guys, they’re period shapes, and the bullseye swirl, that’s my moment. It’s my nod to the Tim that we expect. That’s the expected.” (Disney)

“This is what [Colette] wears when she comes to Dreamland, and there’s this huge circus parade there with around 100-200 acts, and we had about 600 extras,” says Atwood. “The guards there are kinda based on World Fair uniforms.” (Disney)

“The dresses, the crowd costumes, are i’d say 90% real. I used real costumes mixed with reproductions that I made in order to fit modern bodies, because the originals don’t fit a lot of people,” shares Atwood.
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The clown’s firefighter act has been lifted wholesale from the 1941 cartoon, and recreated by Tim Burton. (Disney)

“I love the mermaid, she’s awesome,” says Atwood. “I don’t know if people will like it. She makes me laugh when I see her. I like that people can have fun with this movie, that they can look at things and a smile comes to their face.”
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“[Vandevere] wears a grey toupee, which is quite fetching,” shares Atwood. “So he’s an impresario, he’s a showman. So he’s a little bit flashy. He’s always with bankers, so he’s always well dressed compared to everybody else.” (Disney)

Costumes and props gathered together on the day Yahoo visited the set of Dumbo in 2017. (Disney)