Written by: Sam Santiago
Okay witches, it's time to run a muck once again as news has just crawled across our desks that "HOCUS POCUS 3" has officially been given the green light and Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy are all set to return.
According to reporting from Deadline, the studio is also eyeing a theatrical release this time around, a notable shift after Hocus Pocus 2 turned into a streaming juggernaut with its Disney+ debut in 2022.
This isn’t exactly a fresh resurrection either. The project was first announced in 2023 under former Walt Disney Studios motion picture chief Sean Bailey, only to get caught in development limbo after leadership changes reshuffled priorities the following year. At one point, Hocus Pocus 2 director Anne Fletcher and writer Jen D'Angelo were expected to return, though their current involvement remains unclear.
Midler herself previously acknowledged the early script work, hinting at both excitement and uncertainty:
“They sent a script, and a lot of it was brilliant,” she said. “So I got very excited, and now we’re sort of 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.”
Behind the scenes, Deadline sources also note that earlier delays reportedly stemmed from salary negotiations with the returning leads, which have since been resolved.
The original Hocus Pocus (1993) introduced the Sanderson sisters—Winifred, Sarah, and Mary—as 17th-century witches resurrected on Halloween night in Salem, Massachusetts, where they set their sights on stealing the life force of children before sunrise. Nearly three decades later, Hocus Pocus 2 brought them back again, unleashing another supernatural scramble as a new generation of teens tried to stop their return to power.
Now, with a third installment creeping out of development purgatory, the question isn’t whether the Sanderson sisters are coming back.
It’s how many times Salem is expected to survive them. We hope we don't end up with Hocus Pocus 10 down the line but ya never know when it comes to Disney.