Hocus Pocus Sequel Reportedly Gets New Director

Fans of Hocus Pocus have been hoping to see a follow-up adventure for years, with Disney having tapped director Adam Shankman just over a year ago to helm the adventure, though The DisInsider recently shared that Shankman is handing directorial duties over to Anne Fletcher, as his schedule for the Enchanted sequel Disenchanted will prevent him from developing the new Hocus Pocus film according to its proposed production schedule. Luckily, with Shankman and Fletcher having collaborated many times over the years, there’s arguably no better filmmaker to carry the torch for the long-awaited sequel, which could begin shooting as early as late summer or early fall.

While no official details about the project have been revealed, original stars Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy are all expected to return. It’s unknown if any other members of the original cast are expected to return, with a proposed production schedule of later this year likely allowing for a Disney+ debut just in time for the 2022 Halloween season.

Earlier this year, Najimy did make a promising update about the follow-up film.

“Sarah [Jessica Parker] and Bette [Midler] and I had like a couple of weeks on the phone talking about the script, and that was really fun, obviously,” Najimy shared with SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Show. “Bette Midler, as Jess knows, was a huge, huge inspiration for my whole entire life. Like half of me is me because of Bette Midler, half of me is me because my mom, Gloria Steinem and Bette Midler. So we talked a lot about notes and if we did now, it’s just, and we all have said in a perfect world, yes. Now it’s just location, times and dates and how long and all that. So it’s just, it’s those things. So, you know, I can’t really give a yay or nay either way.”

As any fan of the original film could tell you, the key to its charm was the chemistry of the Sanderson Sisters, with Midler previously noting how they hoped to see the returns of as many elements of the original endeavor as possible.

“We’re trying to see who’s available and who’s still out there and still working and who can come back,” Midler shared with People. “Because, a lot of the success of what we did on that picture had to do with the team that was surrounded, had to do with the team that they assembled to make that picture, the people who did the flying and the rigging, the people who did the green screens, the people who did the … I don’t think they called it the green screen in those days. The people who did the hair and makeup, which were all exemplary, the costumers, and the special effects people.”

Stay tuned for updates on the Hocus Pocus sequel.

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