The Sanderson sisters can’t be stopped. Last year’s sequel Hocus Pocus 2 was apparently #5 on the list of the year’s most-streamed movies, so—inevitably!—Hocus Pocus 3 is now in the works at Disney. Sean Bailey, who runs the part of the company in charge of reimagining animated films into live-action behemoths, confirmed this in an interview with The New York Times.
The second movie picked up the story of the Sanderson sisters—Winifred (Bette Midler), Sarah (Sarah Jessica Parker), and Mary (Kathy Najimy)—long after the events of the original Hocus Pocus, which was not a box office smash but did become a beloved Halloween classic over the years. It also introduced a new teenage witch, because it’s important to hook in the next generation of moviegoers when you are a company that likes to remake and revisit the same properties over and over again.
It’s not yet clear whether Midler, Parker, and Najimy will return, though their particular chemistry does seem key to the whole Hocus phenomenon. Midler told Entertainment Weekly last year, “If there was a third one, of course I’d sign on,” but Parker and Najimy seemed a little less certain.
The first two Hocus Pocuses (Hocus Poci?) are now streaming on Disney+.
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