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It’s Official! The Sanderson Sisters Are Flying Back for Hocus Pocus 3

After years of fan speculation, social media teases and one very impatient Bette Midler, Hocus Pocus 3 is officially in the works at Disney Live Action Studios. Better yet, the entire original trio is coming with it—Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy and Midler herself will all reprise their roles as Sarah, Mary and Winifred.

Ready to run amok with the sisters? We definitely are! Read on to find out when the magic will happen.

A long road back to Salem

The journey to a third movie has been almost as chaotic as a Sanderson sisters reunion. Disney first announced Hocus Pocus 3 back in 2023, but the project hit a major snag when studio chief Sean Bailey exited Disney in 2024.

Midler, never one to mince words, voiced her frustration on Busy Philipps’s talk show Busy This Week in July 2024: “Time is not just marching—time is barrel-a**ing to the finish line. Get us while we’re still breathing!”

By October 2025, things were bubbling again. Midler told Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live that she had read a “brilliant” script. And on May 6, 2026, the spell finally broke.

Here’s what’s been confirmed so far

Salem’s favorite witches aren’t the only familiar faces returning. Behind the cauldron, the Hocus Pocus 2 team is back too. Director Anne Fletcher and screenwriter Jen D’Angelo are teaming up again for the threequel, with Disney’s EVP of Production, Jessica Virtue, overseeing the project.

The biggest twist? There are plans for a theatrical release this time around, a major shift after the streaming-only debut of Hocus Pocus 2 on Disney+. That sequel broke records, racking up 2.7 billion minutes viewed during its opening weekend and becoming the most-watched original film on Disney+ in its first three days.

A release date has yet to be announced, but the broomsticks are definitely back in business.

From summer flop to spooky-season staple

It’s wild to remember that the original Hocus Pocus was a flop. The 1993 film was famously released in July (a curious choice for a Halloween movie), opened to a disappointing $8.1 million and earned a one-star review from Roger Ebert, one of the most influential film critics of his era. The Disney film grossed less than $45 million worldwide on a $28 million budget.

But thanks to decades of October replays on Freeform’s “31 Nights of Halloween,” the film slowly crept into Millennial childhoods and refused to leave. By 2018, the film drew 8.2 million viewers in just the first week of the network’s annual marathon. Suddenly, October just didn’t feel like October without it.

Now, more than 30 years after Winifred first declared, “Oh, look, another glorious morning. Makes me sick!” the witches are coming back. And honestly? It’s about time.

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Sources:

  • Deadline: “‘Hocus Pocus 3’ In The Works; Bette Midler, SJP & Kathy Najimy Back”
  • The Hollywood Reporter: “Bette Midler on ‘Hocus Pocus 3’ Script: ‘Very Excited’”
  • Variety: “‘Hocus Pocus 3’ Officially in the Works With Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy Returning”
  • SlashFilm: “Tales From The Box Office: How Hocus Pocus Went From Flop To Halloween Cult Classic”
  • BroadwayWorld: “HOCUS POCUS on Freeform Reaches 8.2 Million Viewers in Its First Week”

The post It’s Official! The Sanderson Sisters Are Flying Back for <i>Hocus Pocus 3</i> appeared first on Reader's Digest.



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