By Brian Gallagher for Dailymail.com
00:33 Jun 05, 2023, updated 00:37 Jun 05, 2023
Months after Hocus Pocus 2 debuted on the Disney Plus streaming service, Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production President Sean Bailey has confirmed that Hocus Pocus 3 is happening.
Bailey revealed in a new interview with New York times That the third part of the Halloween franchise is happening.
“Yes, Hocus Pocus 3 is happening,” Bailey confirmed in the interview, though no other details were revealed.
The news isn’t terribly surprising, given how successful Hocus Pocus 2 was, setting a new record with 2.7 billion minutes watched in its first week on Disney Plus.
There’s no confirmation yet of Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy returning as the Sanderson Sisters yet, though that seems likely.
The original Hocus Pocus was released in 1993, following the three witches known as the Sanderson sisters – Winifred (Midler), Sarah (Parker), and Mary (Najimi), who were inadvertently resurrected on Halloween – 300 years after their execution in Salem.
The film also starred Omri Katz and Thora Birch as children who revive witches, along with Vinessa Shaw and Doug Jones.
The movie earned $45 million at the box office and became a cult classic after its release on home video.
Freeform will air the film annually on Halloween, with 8.2 million viewers tuning in for its 25th Anniversary Edition in 2018, with a special commemoration filmed at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
While the stars have often talked about their interest in returning for a sequel, it was finally developed in 2019.
Anne Fletcher has signed on to direct from a script written by original Hocus Pocus writer David Kirshner alongside Gene D’Angelo and Blake Harris.
The cast is rounded out with Sam Richardson, Tony Hale, Doug Jones, Whitney Beck, Belisa Escobedo, Lilia Buckingham and Furry Gutierrez.
Viewership was spread across many diverse demographics, with people ages 2-11, 18-34, and 35-49 each accounting for 25%.
Hispanic audiences also took nearly 21% of the viewership, while the sequel also brought the original 1993 Hocus Pocus back into the top ten.
The original movie had 774 million watched minutes, which was good for seventh place on the charts from September 27 to October 2.
It’s also worth noting that streaming Nielsen ratings only account for viewership on TV, which means mobile viewership doesn’t count.
