Sarah Jessica Parker Drops Surprising ‘Hocus Pocus 3’ News
If you’re hoping for a quick follow-up to Hocus Pocus 2, you might want to sit down and take a deep breath. Sarah Jessica Parker, one of the stars of the franchise, gave a surprising update about Hocus Pocus 3 that suggests the movie isn’t moving forward very fast.
More than two years after Disney announced that a third Hocus Pocus movie was in the works—following the big streaming success of Hocus Pocus 2 in 2022—Parker spoke about the sequel during a recent appearance on Andy Cohen’s Watch What Happens Live.
When asked by fans from London if the next film was going to be made soon, Parker joked, “Um, well, for the expats in London… no more developments, other than we would like to do it.” She added again, “We would like to do it,” and said that there have been some early talks about the project, but she didn’t say much else. It’s unclear if those talks included her co-stars Bette Midler and Kathy Najimy.
Back in the summer of 2023, Disney confirmed that Hocus Pocus 3 was in development. Around that time, writer Jen D’Angelo told Entertainment Weekly she had plenty of ideas for the story and new characters. She said, “We’re still in the story phase, we’re still working on it. We’ve been working on some ideas, and it’s been fun to dive back into that world.” D’Angelo also mentioned that the character of the “mother witch,” played by Hannah Waddingham in the second film, could have a bigger role. She said, “We’ve only scratched the surface of Hannah Waddingham’s mother witch.”
In an earlier interview in June 2024, Bette Midler also shared that Disney was moving very carefully with the project. She said they were “very gingerly and very gently” working on the third movie, which shows that progress has been slow.
D’Angelo also confirmed that Thora Birch, who played Dani in the original 1993 movie, will not be returning for the sequel. She explained that she had tried many ideas to bring Birch back, including one where Dani had an “arsenal of anti-magic” to fight the Sanderson Sisters, but nothing ended up working out.
Meanwhile, original Hocus Pocus star Omri Katz told Entertainment Weekly that he would be happy to return if Disney asked him. He said, “Yes, I would return if Disney approached me. It would be an honor to return, hopefully with some of my fellow castmates, and make a fun addition to the franchise!”
When Hocus Pocus 2 was released on Disney+ in September 2022, it received positive reviews and broke streaming records for the platform. At the time, Parker mentioned that Kathy Najimy had suggested making the third movie an animated film.
Parker said, “That would be cool and a smart idea. It’s fun, funny, and could be interesting and innovative, like old-fashioned or new animation.” She added that she would be happy to discuss the idea, depending on what Najimy and Midler wanted.
For now, it looks like fans will have to wait longer to see if the witches of Salem will return to the screen. Parker says everyone involved wants to make the movie, but there’s no real progress yet.
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