Winifred, Mary and Sarah will be back on our screens later this month, with the follow-up to their seminal Halloween smash hitting Disney+ 29 years later.
The sistaaaaaas are on the return with two new musical numbers for 'Hocus Pocus 2'. Let the speculation begin as to what songs were the chosen ones...
With their first spooky outing and cover of Jay Hawkins' 'I Put a Spell on You' so iconic, the cast of Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy have a lot to live up to in terms of this Disney+ sequel. But according to the cast, they're going to nail our expectations (let's keep our finger's crossed).
Chatting in-depth with Entertainment Weekly this week, the three returning Sanderson sisters (and Doug Jones, who plays Billy Butcherson) and film director Anne Fletcher spoke all about building on the original film that countless Halloween-lovers hold dear in their hearts. To many, 'Hocus Pocus' is the absolute pinnacle of Halloween.
Midler, Parker and Najimy were very much a part of the process of making the film all of these years later. They would leave suggestions for the writers as to how they think their characters would act in certain scenes, or coming up with their own ideas about what it means for the sisters to find themselves back in an even more modern Salem all these years later (once again). As Midler says: "Salem has completely changed, too. It's become aware of the Sanderson Sisters. They play on that, so these three girls have been exposed to this their whole lives."
Najimy said of their involvement in the sequel, which got a brand new trailer during D23 last weekend: "They sent us story ideas, then Sarah, Bette, and I would have phone meetings with lots of snacks, and we'd talk over narratives and character arcs. We were able to give them our two cents, and what the writer and studio came up with was difficult, because you can't take something that was so successful and stray too far from it. The first one had something delicious about it, but you also want to make something new. With a little bit of our input, the writer's input, and Disney's, we came up with something that's current and fun."
In terms of concocting musical numbers, 'Hocus Pocus 2' will have twice as much fun with the three witches - meaning we'll be getting two cover songs. While they didn't reveal what tracks these will be (fingers crossed for classics like Donovan's 'Season of the Witch' or maybe even a modern take on Frank Sinatra's 'Witchcraft' - or Valerie Broussard's 'A Little Wicked' could work too), they revealed how much effort went into choosing the perfect ones.
Parker said: "There are two covers, we have two numbers. Two big musical numbers. We would've done three if they'd let us. They're songs that are familiar to a variety of age groups… It was a big conversation, whether we were going to use new material or redo a song, and the movie went through various iterations."
Midler added: "We suggested that there be songs. That was our big contribution. We said, 'They have to sing.' We made suggestions as far as songs were concerned, and we went to the barricades on that. It was a collaborative effort where we were happy to defend our choices and also compromise. I hope they fall into the category of equivalent [to 'I Put a Spell on You'.] We worked hard on them. We had rehearsals during COVID, we went from pillar to post, dancing, singing, and carrying on, in masks. We're 30 years older, and I know the tracks sound great. It's always fun doing a musical number with those girls…."
While Najimy spoke about working with the three Drag Queens from 'RuPaul's Drag Race' (Kornbread, Ginger Minj and Kahmora Hall) on one of the numbers, she also says that she feels that she and her co-stars are "done" with the Sanderson sisters. All three are very grateful for the opportunity to return to their "favourite" characters that they've played in their careers, but don't bet on a third entry in the franchise just yet. Unless it's an animated sequel...
Catch 'Hocus Pocus 2' and its two musical numbers on Disney+ from September 30.
