Treat! Definitely Treat. Hocus Pocus Writer Says a Sequel May Be Coming.
Like the Sanderson sisters themselves, news of a Hocus Pocus sequel has been resurrected. We’ve been let down in the past by talk of a followup to the oddball Halloween classic, but this time, Mick Garris, writer of the original, is the one who said the magic words, so we’re hoping that won’t happen again.
The original focused on two teenagers, a tiny Thora Birch, and an immortal cat doing battle with three ancient witches (the Sanderson sisters) on Halloween night, but it was in the villains where the movie found a lot of its charm. Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy played the magical trio, bringing glorious comedic life into a movie about disciples of Satan trying to suck the life out of children, by Disney—really.
In an interview with Forbes, Garris was asked the question that fans have been interested in for years, and while he’s not involved, he said it’s on the way in one form or another:
“It’s amazing to be a part of something that has become a perennial. It was a hugely successful movie when it came out, it was only modestly successful. I wrote the first eight years earlier but it was when it turned out that Bette Midler was interested and wanted to do it, she was at a very high time in her career, that it got put on the fast track and it started happening again. Now it has become an annual thing at the El Capitan on Hollywood Boulevard and the show is sold out. I went there last year and one of the ushers actually recognized me and gave me a tour of the theater. Generation after generation, it’s kind of remarkable and fantastic to have something brought to the screen like that and to have it embraced generation after generation. Everybody I meet, it’s either their daughters or their own favorite movie and it’s incredibly exciting. There have been rumors of a Hocus Pocus sequel for the last 10 years that will not die. I have heard they are developing the script, I haven’t been involved in it but I think there will be a sequel it might be for Disney Channel or Freeform or ABC. I think it will be for television but I hear that it is moving ahead.”
While it’s not so great to hear that the sequel might be a TV movie rather than a theatrical release, the true key to making sure any attempt to revisit the story holds up is in reassembling the original cast behind the Sanderson sisters themselves. I have a hard time imagining all of them signing on for a TV movie, and it just wouldn’t be the same without them. If the script is still in development, though, there’s plenty of time for things to change, and Garris doesn’t seem too sure on the details anyway.
But if they’re not going to do it right, they might be better off not doing it at all. That might sound harsh, but it’s almost October, and at this time of year, we’re especially serious about our Halloween-themed nostalgia trips.
(via /Film, images: Disney)
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