‘Hocus Pocus 3’: Major Update on Upcoming Disney Movie

Fans are running amok with excitement following confirmation that Hocus Pocus 3 is in development, and it seems that at least two people connected to the 2022 sequel are readying their brooms to cast another spell. Just days after Walt Disney Pictures president Sean Bailey confirmed that a third movie is in the works, The Wrap confirmed that Hocus Pocus 2 director Anne Fletcher and writer Jen D’Angelo will return for the upcoming movie.

Fletcher took over the role of director from Kenny Ortega, who directed the original 1993 cult classic. Adam Shankman, who was originally announced as the sequel’s director before being replaced by Fletcher, remained attached to Hocus Pocus 2 as a producer. Fletcher, who is well known for directing romantic comedies such as The Proposal and 27 Dresses, said that she was “beyond thrilled to be involved in the sequel to a film that is as beloved as Hocus Pocus,” when the sequel was first announced. She added that fans around the world have “embraced these characters and have made this film a Halloween tradition whose popularity continues to grow.”

D’Angelo, meanwhile, scripted the screenplay for the sequel, taking over a role that was held by Mick Garris and Neil Cuthbert for the original movie. D’Angelo served as a writer and co-producer on Workaholics and is a self-described Hocus Pocus superfan, previously telling The Hollywood Reporter that she used her Hocus Pocus fandom and own experience with high school friendships when writing the screenplay.

“I definitely just thought of, ‘What do I love about the original?’ It’s the Sanderson sisters, it’s the spooky fun, it’s the unexpected emotion,” she said. “I cry still every time when Thackery [Binx] turns back into a boy at the end [of the first film], so that was what I was really going for: that campy fun, that fun spookiness and also the unexpected surprising part in the center of the story.”

In the original Hocus Pocus, which came out in 1993, a trio of kids – teenagers Max Dennison and Allison Watts and Max’s little sister Dani – find themselves attempting to save the children of Salem after Max unwittingly summons the Sanderson sisters after lighting the Black Flame candle. The 2022 sequel introduced a new trio of kids, who also accidentally bring back the Sanderson sisters. No information as to the plot, cast, or release date of Hocus Pocus 3 has been shared at this time. It is also unclear if the film will release on Disney+, as Hocus Pocus 2 did, or if it will have a theatrical run.