Disney is moving forward with a sequel to the '90s cult classic Hocus Pocus for release on its own streaming service. Now, Bette Midler has confirmed she will reunite with co-stars Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy when all three actresses reprise their roles as the Sanderson sisters in Hocus Pocus 2.
Released in 1993, Hocus Pocus centers on a trio of witches who are accidentally resurrected on Halloween night by a teenage boy named Max, 300 years after being executed. Realizing they have until sunrise to achieve immortality, the witches set out the steal the life force from Salem's children while Max attempts to thwart them by destroying their book of spells with the help of his little sister Dani, classmate Allison, and a boy who was transformed into a cat by the Sanderson sisters before they were captured.
The Hocus Pocus sequel will be directed by The Wedding Planner and Hairspray (2007) helmer Adam Shankman from a script penned by Jen D'Angelo. Original reports on the sequel indicated Disney hoped to sign on the original Hocus Pocus cast as opposed to rebooting the film. Now, Midler, who portrayed the leader of the Sanderson sisters, Winnie, has confirmed all three of the main stars have agreed to return for the Hocus Pocus sequel. "They want to make a movie, they've asked us if we were interested and of course all of us said yes," Midler explained during an interview on Fox 5 New York's Good Day New York. "I'm game, I'm totally game."
In addition to becoming the highest-grossing re-release of 2020, Hocus Pocus will be the subject of a one-night virtual event on October 30th called "In Search of The Sanderson Sisters, A Hocus Pocus Hulaween Takeover." Hosted by Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, the special event aims to raise funds for the New York Restoration Project and will see Midler reunite with Parker and Najimy as the Sanderson sisters. "It was so bizarre to have been these characters 27 years ago," said Midler of her reunion with the Hocus Pocus cast. "And to put all that gear on… it was so bizarre because we fell into exactly the same relationship we had and the same style of behaving on the screen that we had 27 years ago. As if we had been off for a weekend."
Hocus Pocus is not the only classic title being revisited by Disney as the company lines up projects for its streaming service. Willow director Ron Howard and star Warwick Davis are reuniting for a sequel series set several years after the events of the original fantasy film.
In fact, Disney CEO Bob Chapek recently announced the company plans to restructure its media and entertainment divisions to focus on streaming. While the shift could have been attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on the theater business, Chapek stated that this transition would have happened anyway and that the health crisis merely accelerated their plans.
Hocus Pocus 2 will be released exclusively on Disney+.
Source: Good Day New York