Movies
‘Practical Magic 2’ Moves September Release Up One Week
The Owens sisters are returning in Practical Magic 2, with Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock back to star in the brand new sequel from director Susanne Bier (Bird Box). Originally set for September 18, WB will now release Practical Magic 2 on September 11, 2026.
Kidman and Bullock are reprising their roles as sisters Gillian and Sally, respectively, from the 1998 film based on Alice Hoffman’s 1995 novel. In that film, “Two witch sisters (Bullock and Kidman), raised by their eccentric aunts in a small town, face closed-minded prejudice and a curse which threatens to prevent them ever finding lasting love.”
No plot details have been revealed for Practical Magic 2 as of yet, but the sequel is reportedly based on a later installment in Alice Hoffman’s Practical Magic book series.
Dianne Wiest will be back as Aunt Jet, with Stockard Channing returning as Aunt Frances. Additionally, Lee Pace (Foundation), Maisie Williams (The New Look), Xolo Maridueña (Blue Beetle), and Solly McLeod (The Dead Don’t Hurt) star.
Practical Magic was released in theaters for Halloween 1998, scaring up $68.3 million against a reported $75 million production budget. The film has since gained an ardent cult following that helped usher in a sequel nearly three decades later.
Akiva Goldsman (I Am Legend, A Beautiful Mind), who co-wrote the original, is returning to pen the sequel. Bullock and Kidman are producing alongside returning producer Denise Di Novi.
A contemporary reimagining of H.P. Lovecraft’s short story Herbert West: Reanimator is on the way, and Deadline has unveiled the first look at the new Herbert West and the pathologist drawn to his orbit.
The original screenplay and storyline come from Jade Sandberg Wallis.
Michael Grossman (“The Originals”, “Pretty Little Liars”) directs.
The new images introduce star Joseph Morgan (“Vampire Diaries“), who plays “brilliant surgeon and scientist Herbert West, who is obsessed with creating a serum to reanimate the dead.” Katie Cassidy (Speed Demon) stars opposite as the pathologist with a troubled past who joins his efforts.
Together, they prove that conquering death may be the ultimate sin against life itself.
The film’s official synopsis: “As a child, Herbert West watches his father Peter reanimate his dead mother Judith in a secret basement lab — only for Judith to mortally wound Peter and nearly kill Herbert before Peter shoots her. The trauma leaves its mark on Herbert, but so does one final image: his mother’s finger, twitching after death. Thirty years later, Herbert West is a brilliant, secretive surgeon still chasing his father’s obsession.
“Pathologist Kate Locke arrives in town and is drawn into his orbit — first through a spark at a hospital fundraiser, then through his secret lab, where he reveals a serum capable of reanimating severed tissue. Kate, hiding a dark past of her own, is thrilled rather than horrified, and moves into West’s mansion to work alongside him. Their early experiments on a cadaver succeed only briefly. West concludes that dead tissue is the problem — they need something fresher.”
Supporting cast includes Scott Aiello, Ira J Amyx, Randall Newsome, Emma Reinagal, James D. Bryce, Kathryn A Bentley, Jack Lancaster, Amy Holland Pennell, John Pierson, Mindy Shaw, Eric Dean White, Tristan Wilder Hallet, Adrienne Lamping, Aaron Crippen, and Drew Patterson.
Makeup artist Jeff Lewis (“Star Trek: Voyager,” “Star Trek: Enterprise”) and cousin Roger Lewis are heading the production via their newly established Woodlake Entertainment.
Lovecraft’s short story, first serialized in Home Brew magazine in 1922, is the first among his works to mention the fictional Miskatonic University. It was most famously adapted into a 1985 horror movie from Stuart Gordon, starring Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West.
Herbert West: Reanimator is set in Alton, Illinois, where production is now underway.
Herbert West: Reanimator. Photo credit: Matt Lief Anderson
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