Bette Midler Gives 'Hocus Pocus 3' Update, Urges Disney To Hurry With Script

The Winifred Sanderson star suggested that time is running out for production to begin on 'Hocus Pocus 3.'

By Allison Schonter

Nearly two years after Hocus Pocus 2 cast a spell on fans of the original 1993 film and a new generation of viewers, those eager to see a third movie hit the screen may be in for some disappointment. While Hocus Pocus 3 was confirmed to be in the works in June 2023, it seems things aren't moving quite as quickly as some may have hoped, with Winifred Sanderson herself, aka Bette Midler, calling on Disney to get a script finished sooner rather than later.

"I haven't seen the script, but I've heard rumblings," Midler, 78, said on the QVC+ talk show Busy This Week. I think if they're gonna, they oughta because time is not just marching. Time is barrel-assing to the finish line. Get us while we're still breathing, I mean, God!"

The original Hocus Pocus hit theaters in 1993. Directed by Kenny Ortega from a screenplay by Mick Garris and Neil Cuthbert and a story by David Kirschner and Garris, the movie was set in Salem on Halloween night 1993, when the Sanderson sisters – Winifred (Midler), Sarah (Sarah Jessica Parker), and Mary (Kathy Najimy) – are resurrected by the teenage boy.

Nearly 20 years later, and after the original movie became a cult classic, Hocus Pocus 2 debuted on Disney+ in September 2022, following a new group of teens as they inadvertently resurrected the Sanderson sisters. The film was a massive success, breaking records on the Nielsen Top 10 streaming charts when it earned an opening weekend of 2.7 billion minutes watched. The movie also became the most-watched original film for Disney+ at the time.

Following Hocus Pocus 2's success, Walt Disney Pictures president Sean Bailey confirmed in June of last year that Hocus Pocus 3 was officially in development. The Wrap confirmed later that month that director Anne Fletcher and writer Jen D'Angelo were set to return for the film, but little more updates have arisen since.

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Speaking to Entertainment Weekly in October 2023, D'Angelo revealed that the third film was "still in the story phase, we're still working on it. We've been working on some ideas. It's been fun to dive back into that world and we have so many directions in which to go and so many new characters to explore." Among the topics of interest, D'Angelo said, was Emmy-winner Hannah Waddingham's Mother Witch, who gifted the spell book to the young Sanderson sisters. However, D'Angelo said "anything's on the table" as she also teased, "we for sure want to see [the sisters] again as adults."

Hocus Pocus 3 does not yet have a release date. Both the original 1993 film and its 2022 follow-up are available to stream on Disney+.

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