Bette Midler has said the script for the third Hocus Pocus film is “brilliant”.
- READ MORE: ‘Hocus Pocus 2’ review: spellbinding sequel proves you can bring back the magic
In 1993, Disney released the cult classic witchy comedy film Hocus Pocus. After a nearly three-decade wait, the film finally received a sequel in the form of Hocus Pocus 2.
Back in June 2023, Sean Bailey, president of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production, confirmed a third film was in the works. Now, Midler, who stars in the franchise as Winifred Sanderson alongside Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy, has said the third instalment is well on its way.
During an interview with Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live, she said that she has seen a script for Hocus Pocus 3.
“Well, you know, they sent a script, and a lot of it was brilliant,” she said. “So I got very excited.”
She went on to say: “And now we’re trying to figure out what it is and where it’s going to be and how much it’s going to cost and all those logistical things.”
It marks progress from last year, when Midler said: “I haven’t seen the script, but I’ve heard rumblings.”
She added at the time: “I think if they’re gonna, they oughta, because time is not just marching, time is barrel-assing to the finish line. Get us while we’re still breathing, I mean, God!”
In Hocus Pocus (1993), a trio of witch sisters (Midler, Parker and Najimy) are inadvertently resurrected from the dead by a teenage boy in Salem on Halloween night exactly 300 years after their demise.
Hocus Pocus 2 was speculated dating as far back as 2012, with a release originally scheduled for 2014. Then in 2017, it was reported that Disney was remaking Hocus Pocus as a television movie with original producer David Kirschner – but without the original cast, to the displeasure of fans.
Finally, Hocus Pocus 2 was confirmed by Disney back in 2020 with its core cast confirmed to return, and the movie premiered on September 30, 2022.
In a four-star review of Hocus Pocus 2, Nick Levine wrote for NME: “This thoroughly enjoyable film succeeds in offering a knowing (but not too knowing) spin on the campy original. When the sisters break into a rollicking rendition of ‘The Bitch Is Back’ – reworked as ‘The Witches Are Back’, obviously – one character deadpans: “Why are they singing?” It’s also really quite touching at the finish: a trick few sequels of this ilk manage to pull off.”
