Your favorite witches are back this Halloween, as the highly anticipated Hocus Pocus 2 is set to debut on Disney Plus in time for the spooky holiday, according to an Instagram post from executive producer Adam Shankman. Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy are all reprising their roles as the fantastically wicked Sanderson Sisters.
Shankman posted to Instagram on Saturday, Jan. 29, to mark the end of production on the movie:
While Shankman specifically mentions Halloween in the post, we don’t know the exact Hocus Pocus 2 release date just yet. Halloween falls on a Monday in 2022 and although it’s not impossible that Disney Plus could release the sequel on October 31, it is more likely that the movie comes out on the traditional Disney Plus release day, which is Friday. That would make the likely release date October 28, the Friday before Halloween.
The original Hocus Pocus was released in 1993 and starred Midler, Parker and Najimy as a trio of witches brought back from the dead on Halloween by a group of teens who light a black flame candle. With the help of the talking cat Binx, the teens have to find a way to stop the Sanderson Sisters as they try to suck the youth out of the children of Salem, Massachusetts, in the hope of staying young forever.
Looks like a few kids didn’t learn the lesson from their predecessors, as the plot for Hocus Pocus 2 is described as follows: “Three young women accidentally bring back the Sanderson Sisters to modern-day Salem and must figure out how to stop the child-hungry witches from wreaking havoc on the world.”
Hocus Pocus 2 sees Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham join the cast, along with newcomers Dan Finnerty (Dumplin', The Hangover) Sam Richardson (Veep, The Afterparty), Whitney Peak (Gossip Girl), Tony Hale (Arrested Development, Veep), Froy Gutierrez (Teen Wolf, Cruel Summer), Belissa Escobedo (Sex Appeal) and Lilia Buckingham (Crown Lake, Zoe Valentine). Original Hocus Pocus star Doug Jones (Star Trek: Discovery, The Shape of Water), who played the zombie Billy, is also set to reprise his role.
The sequel is directed by Anne Fletcher (This Is Us, The Proposal) from a script by Jen D’Angelo (Young Rock, Workaholics).
Hocus Pocus 2 will be available exclusively on Disney Plus, meaning you’ll need a subscription to watch it whenever it releases. While we wait for Hocus Pocus 2 to come out, let's just enjoy one of the original movie's best scenes (or just go rewatch the movie right now on Disney Plus):
