Hocus Pocus wasn’t a monster hit when it came out in 1993, but it became — like The Shawshank Redemption, The Big Lebowski, and The Boondock Saints — one of those films that gained most of its fans on TV and home video. (Among those are super-fan Billy Eichner.) So it was probably inevitable that when Disney+ came around, they’d get around to exhuming it. And so they are: Entertainment Weekly are reporting (via Collider) that the forthcoming streaming service is at work on a sequel to the beloved witch comedy.
This isn’t the first time there’s been talk of more Hocus Pocus. A sequel was attempted a few years ago, which at one points was to involve Tina Fey. Bette Midler — who co-starred alongside Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy — was even down for it. But it came to naught.
The original followed Midler, Parker, and Najmiy as a trio of witches accidentally summoned in modern-day Salem. It actually lost Disney money when it came out, but eventually its cult status turned it into a cash-cow. And now it will join the likes of Home Alone, Night at the Museum, and Cheaper by the Dozen as IP that will be resurrected as new Disney+ content.
Everything is still in the larval stage, but Workaholics writer and producer Jen D’Angelo has been confirmed to pen the script. Are Midler, Parker, and/or Najimy on board? No. But that could change.
