Movies
‘Hocus Pocus’ Sequel Could Bring Original Cast Back for Disney Plus!
Disney has finally recognized the popularity of Hocus Pocus, one of the best kid-friendly Halloween-themed horror films ever made.
The Kenny Ortega-directed 1993 movie starred Omri Katz as a curious youngster who moves to Salem, where he struggles to fit in before awakening a trio of diabolical witches (played by Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy) that were executed in the 17th century. The film also starred Thora Birch.
After being ignored for years – much like that of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas – Hocus Pocus has had quite the resurgence in pop culture. From Halloweentime screenings through Fathom Events to Funko Pop Vinyl box sets, the witches have even made their way to the Disney Parks as part of their annual Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, not to mention having their own dedicated merchandising sections.
READ ALSO: Tony Gardner Shares Never-Before-Seen Photos From the Set of Hocus Pocus! [Exclusive]
Disney began kicking the tires of a new Hocus Pocus over five years ago with Hocus Pocus 2: Rise of the Elderwitch, which would have focused on a witch hunter and a single witch. Then, two years ago, it was reported that a TV remake was in the works for The Disney Channel with an entirely new cast. This woke Midler from the grave, who shared her displeasure for the new incarnation: “I know it’s cheap. It’s going to be cheap!” Midler told People at the New York Restoration Project’s Hulaween party.
This may have caught the eye of Disney executives as neither project came to fruition (obviously). If Midler was so against a remake, maybe she’d return for a proper sequel? And now with Disney+ launching, they’re surely using algorithms to see what’s their most popular content. The answer is clearly Hocus Pocus.
With that, they hope to resurrect all three witches for Hocus Pocus 2, Collider reports, adding that Jen D’Angelo, who served as a writer and co-producer on “Workaholics”, has been hired to write the script.
Sources say that D’Angelo has been tasked with finding a way to bring back the original cast of Bette Midler as Winifred, Sarah Jessica Parker as Sarah, and Kathy Najimy as Mary. None of them are attached at the moment, but the studio is hopeful that they’ll be involved with the sequel in some capacity.
With Disney’s insane spending on Disney+ content, there’s no reason they can’t conjure up enough dollar bills for a reunion.
Disney+ launches on November 12. Is a Hocus Pocus and its sequel enough to get you to sign up for a year?
READ ALSO: How ‘The Lords of Salem’ Was Essentially Rob Zombie’s Dark Remake of ‘Hocus Pocus’
There’s been a lot of talk about how Christopher Nolan snuck in some horror elements into his epic adaptation of The Odyssey. However, even before the Cyclops began to eat Ithican soldiers and Circe subjected them to magical body-horror, cinemagoers were already witnessing supernatural terror through a certain trailer that was attached to most IMAX screenings of Nolan’s film.
It turns out that this trailer was for Rob Savage’s Other Mommy, an adaptation of Bird Box author Josh Malerman’s horror novel, Incidents Around the House. With the teaser now available online and revealing that the award-winning Jessica Chastain is playing the titular antagonist (as well as her ill-fated human counterpart), not to mention the fact that the picture is being helmed by the director of hits like Host and The Boogeyman, genre fans are understandably hyped for this upcoming thriller.
That’s why I’ve decided to take a closer look at the trailer and share four things we learned from this sneak peek at Other Mommy!
4. Rob Savage is Going Back to His Supernatural Horror Roots
I know I’m in the minority when I admit that Dashcam is my favorite Rob Savage movie, but even I understand why the filmmakers’ fans have been waiting a while for the director to get back to telling more grounded paranormal stories as he did with 2020’s Host.
Other Mommy obviously isn’t a found footage movie, but moments like the poltergeist activity on the kitchen table combined with the nature of the source material, which actually features a full-on exorcism, indicate that this adaptation is more than a simple creature feature. That’s why I think Savage is once again going to borrow from the same ghostly narratives that made his debut film such a viral hit.
3. Other Mommy is a More Convincing Doppelganger in the Adaptation
Part of the horror from Malerman’s original novel came from the fact that the entity taking on the form of Bela’s (Arabella Olivia Clark) mother wasn’t very good at passing itself off as human. This resulted in several uncanny moments where other characters began to notice that there was something visibly wrong with the family and decided to keep their distance.
Savage’s film appears to be taking a different route, with the trailer showing a version of the entity that can, at least physically, imitate Chastain’s character perfectly. This change is likely the result of the filmmakers wanting to incorporate more paranoid scenes where Bela and her father, played by Jay Duplass, are confused about which Mommy is safe to interact with.
2. The Family is Also Better Off This Time Around
Incidents Around the House featured some interesting subtext about how poverty can negatively affect American family dynamics. After all, the main characters were already feeling scared and isolated before the entity emerged from Bela’s closet and began scratching at their emotional wounds. The trailer for the movie, however, depicts the family as being relatively well off before these incidents begin to occur.
I can only imagine that this part of the story was changed so that the family’s fall from grace can be even more dramatic as the mom and dad’s pasts are revealed and Bela falls further into the clutches of the demonic antagonist.
1. Jessica Chastain is Embodying Evil Dead Rise’s Alyssa Sutherland
Mothers turning against their children is one of the most disturbing horror tropes out there (just check out classics like Hereditary and Carrie if you need proof), but it takes a remarkably skilled actress to pull off such a monstrous transformation. This is especially true when both a regular, loving mother and the Other share the screen in the same film.
That’s why I appreciate how Chastain appears to be channeling another evil redhead mother that recently traumatized audiences with her performance. It’s too early to be sure, but I’m fairly confident that Chastain’s character has at least some amount of Ellie in her cinematic DNA – Ellie being the iconic deadite brought to life by Australian actress Alyssa Sutherland in 2023’s Evil Dead Rise.
Let us know in the comments if you think we missed any important details from the trailer, and don’t forget to check out Other Mommy when it hits theaters on October 9!
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