The Sanderson sisters are officially flying back into action with ‘Hocus Pocus 3‘, and this time, Disney appears ready to make their return even bigger.
Nearly three years after ‘Hocus Pocus 2‘, the beloved witchy franchise has finally moved forward with a major update. Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy are all set to return, and fresh details about the movie’s future are already getting longtime fans excited.
Disney Eyes A Bigger Future For ‘Hocus Pocus 3’ After Huge Franchise Success
The confirmation of ‘Hocus Pocus 3‘ from Deadline comes after ‘Hocus Pocus 2‘ became one of Disney+’s biggest streaming hits when it premiered in 2022. The sequel reunited Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy nearly 29 years after the original 1993 movie first became a Halloween favorite for audiences.
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The movie’s overwhelming streaming success reportedly pushed Disney to expand its plans for the franchise. According to Deadline, the studio is now planning a theatrical distribution component for the third film, rather than keeping it exclusively on Disney+, and Jessica Virtue, EVP of Production for Disney Live Action, will oversee the project.
The ending of ‘Hocus Pocus 2‘ also clearly left the door open for another installment. The sequel followed the Sanderson sisters returning to modern-day Salem after a group of teenagers accidentally resurrected them on Halloween night. By the film’s conclusion, the story teased that the witches’ magical legacy was far from finished.
Disney first announced in summer 2023 that a third movie was in development, and writer Jen D’Angelo later revealed that the creative team had already started building several ideas for the sequel’s storyline.
Writers Already Have Fresh Storylines And Returning Character Ideas
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly shortly after the third movie announcement back in 2023, writer Jen D’Angelo explained that the team was still actively working on the story while exploring several new possibilities connected to the magical world introduced in ‘Hocus Pocus 2‘.
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“We’re still in the story phase, we’re still working on it. We’ve been working on some ideas, and it’s been fun to dive back into that world. We have so many directions to go in and so many new characters to explore. We’ve only scratched the surface of Hannah Waddingham’s mother witch,” D’Angelo said.
D’Angelo also discussed several ideas involving original ‘Hocus Pocus‘ star Thora Birch, who did not appear in ‘Hocus Pocus 2‘ alongside fellow original cast members Omri Katz and Vinessa Shaw. The writer admitted she strongly wanted Dani Dennison to return in some form during the sequel.
“I was so invested in trying to get [Birch as] Dani back into the story. We had a bunch of different versions of that, too, where she was really a part of it,” D’Angelo shared. She also revealed that “there were some versions where she was popping in briefly as a cameo,” while another storyline imagined Dani returning because “she has a whole arsenal of anti-magic” to battle the Sanderson sisters after their resurrection.
Now that ‘Hocus Pocus 3‘ is officially moving ahead, we can’t wait to see the Sanderson sisters making another magical return to Salem.
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