‘Hocus Pocus 2’ Announced with Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy Returning!

It has been almost 28 years since we were first introduced to the wicked Sanderson Sisters in the 1993 live-action Halloween cult classic Hocus Pocus, which became everyone’s go to family Halloween movie since then. Now, Disney has just announced Hocus Pocus 2 is coming to Disney+ in 2022 — most likely for Halloween season… and Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy are reprising their roles from the original!!!

MY INNER CHILD IS SCREAMING.

If you don’t remember the first movie, let me give you a brief summary:

Midler plays Winifred Sanderson, with Parker and Najimy back as her sisters, Sarah and Mary, respectively. During the Salem Witch Trials in 1693, the three sisters were tried for kidnapping children to use their souls to retain the sisters’ youth. Before they were hung, Winifred casts a spell that if a virgin lit the Black Flame Candle in their cottage on Halloween, then they will return. Of course, 300 years later, a young virgin lit the flame and they come back wreaking havoc on the town. The kids — Max (Omri Katz), Dani (Thora Birch), and Allison (Vinessa Shaw) are able to stop them and the sisters returned to their evil spell book. In Hocus Pocus 2, three young women accidentally bring the Sanderson Sisters back to modern day Salem and must figure out how to stop the child-hungry witches from wreaking a new kind of havoc on the world.

Hocus Pocus 2 will begin production this fall under the direction of Anne Fletcher, who is taking over directing responsibilities from her friend and colleague Adam Shankman, with Lynn Harris serving as producer. Shankman is currently in production on “Disenchanted” for the studio, which he is directing, but will remain on this project as an executive producer along with Ralph Winter (Adrift) and David Kirschner (Curse of Chucky). Steven Haft (Tigerland) is co-producer.

“Now more than ever, people need to laugh. We should be laughing every day, and there is so much fun to be had with these three unbelievable women playing delicious characters from such a beloved film,” says director Anne Fletcher in a press release. “I am so grateful to be able to play a part in bringing these witches back to life, and to be working with my friends at Disney again makes it all the more special. This is a movie for everyone, from the fans who grew up with the first film to the next generation of viewers, and I can’t wait to get started.”