Original ‘Hocus Pocus’ Writer Interested in Returning for Sequel

Debuting in 1993, Hocus Pocus has grown a passionate following, which helped generate excitement for an upcoming reimagining of the original film. Filmmaker Mick Garris wrote the original film, though the studio system and frequent revisions resulted in the family-friendly Halloween-themed adventure not coming to life until eight years later, with a variety of writers contributing their own ideas into the narrative. Despite the detachment from his original script and the final product, Garris confirmed he’d gladly get involved in a follow-up film.

“I would love to. It was a thing of the past, but it was not a bad experience,” Garris shared with ComicBook.com about helping develop a new film. “It’s not unusual for studios to go through other writers. They did 11 other writers after me, and the first movie didn’t get made until eight years after I had worked on it. But it ended up, even with all those writers, going back to the basic structure that I had done originally, which is why I’ve got three credits on the movie. But yeah, they are going to do a re-imagining of it with none of the original cast. They’re doing it for Freeform, I believe. They are developing the script now. I’ve talked to David Kirschner, the producer, who I like a lot, about it, and if there’s a way I can be involved I would love to.”

Some filmmakers have expressed their frustrations about a studio taking a concept they created and turning it into something unrecognizable, yet Garris has nothing by pleasant memories of the film and its status.

“It’s a very, very happy part of my resume that I’m proud of, and that probably more people know me from that, despite my move away from family filmmaking since then, than know me in our very limited slice of the pie that our genre occupies,” Garris noted. “If I can be involved in it as a consultant or as a director or something like that, I would be glad to be involved.”

Garris isn’t the only one who would be willing to return to the series, as actor Doug Jones, who played Billy the zombie in the film, would also happily be involved.

“There was talk about doing a ’20 years later’ sequel that I would have been involved with,” Jones shared with Digital Spy. “I was actually approached and asked about that. I would love to reprise Billy Butcherson.”

Stay tuned for details about the development of the upcoming Hocus Pocus re-imagining.

Are you looking forward to the new film or would you rather see a sequel to the original? Let us know in the comments below or hit up @TheWolfman on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!