Did You Know Bette Midler Started Asking About A Hocus Pocus 2 Nearly 15 Years Ago?
Hello, Salem!
In 1993, Hocus Pocus introduced us to the iconic Sanderson sisters resulting in mixed to negative reviews, losing Disney around $16.5 million during its run in movie theaters. However, annual airings of the film across Disney Channel and Freeform (formerly ABC Family) during spooky season helped turn it into a cult classic. Now 29 years later, Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy return to reprise their roles in Hocus Pocus 2, which follows three high school students who must work to stop the revenge-seeking Sanderson sisters and save a modern-day Salem.
“This was a dream come true, it really was. After I realized it was actually a phenomenon, I started asking people […] don't you think they would be interested in a sequel?” said Bette Midler about returning to Hocus Pocus at the sequel’s press conference. “This was a long time ago. This was like 15 years ago, something like that. So here we are.”
Kathy Najimy remarked on their surprise at the reaction to the original Hocus Pocus film. “You just make films and you go on to the next one and however the audience receives it is always a surprise. So I think there was something in this film, I think, like Wizard of Oz-ish, where the generation shows it to their kids and shows it to their kids and shows it to their kids,” she said. “So it becomes part of the fabric of the history of the family. So I don't think that anyone could ever predict, do you, like what would be [generational].”
When it came to returning to these roles, centering sisterhood and the female experience was a key aspect they focused on. ”We talked a lot about sisterhood and we talked a lot about leaning on each other and counting on each other and loyalty to each other. I think in this world, there's so much going on in this world that we never really realized until maybe the last 25, 30 years, maybe 50 years. Things have changed for women, but things have not changed fast enough for women,” said Midler. “And I think these three characters are, in a strange and odd way, really quite positive for women. First of all, they're very funny, which women are not allowed to be are not supposed to be. And they're intensely loyal to each other. It's a very broad range of emotions that they live through. But, I think in a funny way, their bond is very, very strong. So in any situation where women are together, a bond of friendship and sisterhood is really, really important.”
In the sequel, the Sanderson sisters face off against a trio of best friends played by Whitney Peak, Belissa Escobedo, and Lilia Buckingham. “There is just like an interesting parallel of the older witches, but also the three of us [coming from] three completely different walks of life and personality and individuality and then finding this bond where you can be selfless and completely comfortable with each other,” said Whitney Peak. “[My character Becca] has a core friend group and no matter what happens she eventually gets to reuniting and […] putting their differences aside and the distractions of whatever happens and making sure that she has her sisters behind her the entire time.”
”All of us are very real teenagers who go through teenage emotions. […] We're in such a camp, crazy movie, but the emotions are very understated in the sense that they're very real,” said Lilia Buckingham. “We have this love for each other and this friendship, but, I mean, every teen knows what it's like to go through a rough patch with your friends and to have your first boyfriend or girlfriend and then do all of that. She is a very good example of misstepping and not being able to figure it out until she communicates with her best friends. And that's just the realest thing I've ever heard. We've all been through that.”
Belissa Escobedo continued: “[With] Izzy, I just admire that she just has this blind loyalty to these girls, like, will do anything for them, no questions asked, totally would go against three evil witches like for you.”
Director Anne Fletcher even shared costume connections shared between both trios. While some of the original costumes have deteriorated and are on display in a museum in Washington, they decided to start from scratch when it came to the iconic looks. “The symbols on all three of the witches outfits, especially Bette's, mean something. It actually comes from [what is] now modern-day Wicca. But in the 1600s, that version of witchcraft which was tethered to the earth, the ocean, the stars, it's all tied together. And it's all on her on her cloak as well as the bird which I won't say anymore. But we do understand who the bird is. It's all reflected in Winifred's cloak and in Mary's rings,” said Fletcher. “And the three girls also have […] these symbols, as well as each witch's color stone in their matching necklaces. Each of the girls sort of mirrors their color scheme. And Hannah [Waddingham’s] wardrobe, the Mother Witch, has a lot of the iconography of the movie. She gives to the witches who they are. Their identity and ultimately their power.”
Hocus Pocus 2 hits Disney+ on September 30.
