To celebrate the arrival of the first trailer for Hocus Pocus 2, the Sanderson Sisters themselves got together to record a reaction video. The returning stars of the original 1993 cult classic, Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy, sat down to watch the new trailer and record their gleeful reactions to it in the video shared on Walt Disney Studios’ YouTube Channel on the same day that the trailer itself racked up over 43 million views in 24 hours. While this is not in the same league as the likes of Disney’s Marvel trailers, it proves that there is a lot of love waiting to be shown to the legacy sequel when it arrives at the end of September.
After many rumors and mis-fires, Hocus Pocus 2 came into being quite quickly following the arrival of Disney+. Like many studios, Disney needed new exclusive content for the platform and that means delving into some of their past movies to try and gain a bit of interest. Hocus Pocus was an instant Halloween hit when it released just under 30 years ago, and it has continued to be increasingly popular in the years since. It was therefore no surprise when Disney announced the sequel, although getting all three of the original witchy leads, along with Doug Jones as Billy Butcherson, was something that really made people stand up and take notice.
The trailer gives a first look at the return of the Sandersons, and the new cast of teenagers who are responsible for their resurrection. The new cast includes Whitney Peak, Lilia Buckingham, Belissa Escobedo, Sam Richardson, Tony Hale and Hannah Waddingham as a new witch in the mix. See the Sanderson reacting to the new trailer below.
Most Of The Original Cast Do Not Appear In Hocus Pocus 2
While it would have been good to see the entire Hocus Pocus cast returning, other than the Sandersons and Billy, the rest of the original young cast were either not interested or not invited to join in the fun this time around.
According to Vinessa Shaw and Omri Katz, they were not contacted by Disney prior to the movie going into production, and although Thora Birch was set to star as an adult version of her character Dani, scheduling conflicts ruled her out. Following the release of the trailer, and the appearance of a black cat, many fans believed that they could be about to see the return of Thackery Binx, a character in the original movie who had been cursed by the Sandersons and whose curse was lifted at the end of the film. However, it was confirmed by Entertainment Weekly that Jason Marsden, who voiced the cat in Hocus Pocus, has not been involved in the sequel.
Whether any of the previous stars have been secretly brought in to record a surprise cameo appearance is something that we will find out in September when the Sanderson’s ride again in Hocus Pocus 2 just in time for Halloween.