As with any sufficiently charged source of millennial nostalgia, Disney has been sniffing around the eminently silly 1993 Halloween comedy Hocus Pocus for a while now, trying to figure out how to crack the Bette Midler classic open and get to the sweet “Hey, I remember that!” nut meat stored within. Back in 2017, the company was reportedly pursuing some kind of Hocus Pocus revival as a possible Disney Channel movie, a strategy that now seems shockingly naive, given that the ever-hungry Disney+ was just a few years off at that point. Now the stars have apparently properly aligned, with Variety reporting that Disney is developing a revival of the “Amok! Amok! Amok!” classic for its upcoming streaming service.
There’s no word yet on what kind of plot this purported Plus-Pocus sequel might feature, although Workaholics writer and co-producer Jen D’Angelo is reportedly working on the script. The big question, of course, is whether Disney will be able to get any of the original film’s trio of witches—Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and the endlessly underrated Kathy Najimy—to show up for another night in Satan’s service. Midler didn’t pull any punches when asked about the previous Disney Channel plan—dubbing it “cheap,” and answering with a simple but emphatic “No! No,” when asked if she’d cameo—but it’s not hard to imagine a Disney+ presentation putting a little more oomph behind trying to get her and the other Sanderson sisters on board.