Daily Mail
Hocus Pocus 3 Is Officially Under Development At Disney
By Brian Gallagher For Dailymail.com
June 04, 2023
Hocus Pocus 3 is in development at Disney according to studio executive Sean Bailey… though it’s unclear if Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy will return
Mister D: I would look at this very carefully. To me, there always was a big chance this third installment would happen, but without the original witches.
Months after Hocus Pocus 2 debuted on the Disney Plus streaming service, Sean Bailey, President of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production, confirmed Hocus Pocus 3 is happening.
Bailey revealed in a new interview with The New York Times that a third installment of the Halloween franchise is happening.
‘Yes, Hocus Pocus 3 is happening,’ Bailey confirmed in the interview, though no other specifics were revealed.
The news isn’t terribly surprising, given how successful Hocus Pocus 2 was, setting a new record with 2.7 billion viewing minutes in its first week on Disney Plus.
There is no confirmation yet that Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy will return as the Sanderson Sisters quite yet, though it seems likely.
Sequel: Months after Hocus Pocus 2 debuted on the Disney Plus streaming service, Sean Bailey, President of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production, confirmed Hocus Pocus 3 is happening
Sequel: ‘Yes, Hocus Pocus 3 is happening,’ Bailey confirmed in the interview, though no other specifics were revealed
The original Hocus Pocus was released in 1993, following the three witches known as the Sanderson Sisters – Winifred (Midler), Sarah (Parker), and Mary (Najimy), who are inadvertently resurrected on Halloween – 300 years after they were executed in Salem.
The film also starred Omri Katz and Thora Birch as the kids who resurrected the witches, along with Vinessa Shaw and Doug Jones.
The film earned $45 million at the box office and became a cult classic after its release on home video.
Freeform would air the film annually on Halloween, with 8.2 million viewers tuning in on the 25th-anniversary release in 2018, with an anniversary special filmed at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
While the stars had spoken often about their interest in returning for a sequel, it finally went into development in 2019.
Anne Fletcher signed on to direct from a script by original Hocus Pocus writer David Kirschner along with Jen D’Angelo and Blake Harris.
The cast was rounded out with Sam Richardson, Tony Hale, Doug Jones, Whitney Peak, Belissa Escobedo, Lilia Buckingham, and Froy Gutierrez.
The viewership was spread out through many diverse demographics, with 2-to-11-year-olds, 18-to-34-year-olds, and 35-to-49-year-olds each accounting for 25%.
Original: The original Hocus Pocus was released in 1993, following the three witches known as the Sanderson Sisters – Winifred (Midler), Sarah (Parker), and Mary (Najimy), who are inadvertently resurrected on Halloween – 300 years after they were executed in Salem
Cast: The film also starred Omri Katz and Thora Birch(middle) as the kids who resurrected the witches, along with Vinessa Shaw and Doug Jones.
Development: While the stars had spoken often about their interest in returning for a sequel, it finally went into development in 2019
Hispanic audiences also accounted for approximately 21% of the viewership, while the sequel also brought the 1993 original movie Hocus Pocus back into the top 10.
The original movie amassed 774 million viewing minutes, which was good for seventh place on the charts for September 27-October 2.
It’s also worth noting that Nielsen’s streaming rankings only account for viewing on a TV screen, which means mobile viewing is not counted.
Mister D,
I definitely agree with your comment about looking at this very carefully. Shortly after reading your post, I received a tweet from Fox5Vegas saying “the Sanderson sisters are back!”, pictures and all of Bette, Sarah and Kathy–however it continues to follow the article you posted about lack of specifics at this time and nothing being confirmed.
I did a little research on the IMDB, and I see that Disney is assigned to doing an animated television remake of the 1993 classic. It’s listed as “in development” with writers Mick Garris and Scarlett Lacey attached. I believe you have IMDB Pro, so you will be able to glean more information from this first-hand. At this point, it’s listed as “Hocus Pocus” as opposed to Hocus Pocus 3. No cast is included, but all of the links point to the original film with Bette and the Sandersons.
I recall an article you posted last year, shortly after Hocus Pocus 2 came out, where Kathy Najimy stated that she thought the series would do well as ‘animation’. If I again recall, Bette agreed with Kathy about that possibility or direction for continuance of Hocus Pocus as a series. After seeing Hocus Pocus 2, I thought it was pretty clear (based on the ending) that any sequels would probably not involve the Sanderson Sisters. However, if it goes forward as an animated film, I think the possibility of Bette and the others doing voiceover work could move the storyline forward or perhaps even involve more of the original cast. What with Disney making a fortune on turning their animated classics into live action films (e.g., Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Pinocchio, etc.), it would certainly be a twist or reversal to take a live action classic, such as Hocus Pocus and turn it into an animated film.
As you mentioned, something for us to look at very carefully. If it turns out that it would move forward in animation, I honestly won’t be very happy about that, but I can see how Disney could build a franchise around it. All I can say is I hope Bette is still involved, as I can’t really support it without her and the Sanderson Sisters.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7464046/?ref_=fn_al_tt_6