What strange sorcery is this that “Hocus Pocus” — a so-so comedy turned campy cult favorite starring Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy as absolutely fabulous Salem witch sisters — should be getting a sequel nearly three decades after its 1993 release? At the time, Variety speculated that, were it not for the film’s three stars, “‘Hocus Pocus’ wouldn’t seem out of place on the Disney Channel, and perhaps belongs there.” In a sense, that’s what’s happened with this follow-up, aimed to breathe some life into the graveyard that is Disney+.
The sequel’s existence owes less to popular demand (the original earned a respectable 39.3 million stateside and went on to become a Halloween season staple) than to the realization that the film had tapped into preteens’ fascination with witchcraft before Harry Potter came along. It can be no coincidence that the new feature lifts so much...
The sequel’s existence owes less to popular demand (the original earned a respectable 39.3 million stateside and went on to become a Halloween season staple) than to the realization that the film had tapped into preteens’ fascination with witchcraft before Harry Potter came along. It can be no coincidence that the new feature lifts so much...
- 9/29/2022
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
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