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Movies & TV

24th Oct 2019

Hocus Pocus fans rejoice! The sequel is now officially in development

Rory Cashin

hocus pocus sequel

This is going to make a lot of people very happy.

Released in July 1993 (yes, 26 years ago and yes, for whatever reason, not released at Halloween), Hocus Pocus wasn’t actually much of a hit.

It cost $28 million to produce, made less than $40 million at the worldwide box office and got a score of 33% on Rotten Tomatoes.

That didn’t stop it from becoming a massive cult classic in the intervening years and ever since, fans have been hoping some Hollywood magic would take place to get that long-delayed sequel.

Well, it turns out your wish has come true, as Collider reports that writer Jen D’Angelo (Workaholics, Cougar Town) has been officially hired to begin work on the sequel and that she has been tasked with finding a way to bring back Winifred (Bette Midler), Sarah (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Mary (Kathy Najimy).

Midler was 47 when the original arrived in cinemas and is currently 73-years-old, so the story will likely involve the trio of witches passing the broom torch on to the next generation of pot-boilers.

Additionally, it doesn’t look like the movie will be heading to cinemas at all, but making its debut on Disney+, the new streaming service that still doesn’t have an official Irish release date, but is set to launch in the US on Tuesday, 12 November.

A cursory reminder that the original Hocus Pocus is showing on the big screen around Ireland for Halloween, with more details on that right here.

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