Sean Parker
Hocus Pocus certainly put a spell on us back in 1993. After 29 years of false starts and rumors, we officially have a Hocus Pocus 2 premiere date. Announced yesterday at Disney’s upfronts presentation, the eagerly awaited follow-up will officially premiere on Disney+ on September 30.
The film is officially a sequel to director Kenny Ortega’s near 30-year-old film about a coven of child-soul-stealing sisters who get resurrected in modern-day Salem, Massachusetts. Their attempts to obtain immortality are thwarted by a group of kids and a 300-year-old cat. Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy, and Doug Jones are confirmed to be returning for the movie filmed in Connecticut and Rhode Island last fall.
There’s no word if child actors Thora Birch, Omri Katz, or Vinessa Shaw will be in the film. Though Jamie Lee reported last year that Thora Birch had made some cryptic tweets about a “Mah-velous!” 2022. Newcomers will include Emmy-winning Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham, Veep’s Tony Hale, and Werewolves Within star Sam Richardson. Hocus Pocus 2 was written by Workaholics writer Jen D’Angelo and directed by The Proposal director Anne Fletcher.
Hocus Pocus 2’s story isn’t all that different from the original story, this time with three high-school girls accidentally resurrecting the Sanderson Sisters and forced to stop them from wreaking their havoc on the world. The sequel may focus more on magic this time around as well, suggesting:
“The world may have been free of Winifred, Mary, and Sarah and the fear they invoked in us all, but what happens when you mess with magic? It messes back.”
With the announcement of the Hocus Pocus 2 premiere date, a trailer for the upcoming sequel should be forthcoming. A clip of rough-cut footage was revealed during Disney’s upfronts presentation yesterday where, according to Entertainment Weekly, two young girls lit the black flame candle and summoned the witches. Bette Midler’s high-pitched Winifred was then heard crowing, “Lock up your children! Yes, Salem, we’re back!” then seen performing a version of the Elton John hit “The Bitch is Back.”
