"Hocus Pocus 3" Reportedly in Development at Disney+

It looks like the Sanderson Sisters will be back for at least one more night of mischief. Disney is reportedly producing a third Hocus Pocus film, according to The New York Times.

(Matt Kennedy/Disney)

The New York Times published a feature today on the work of Sean Bailey, President of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production.
Within the feature is a list of upcoming live-action projects, including Moana, Hercules and Lilo and Stitch.
The list goes on to say “Yes, Hocus Pocus 3 is happening.”
No further information has been given on the film and there is currently no timeline for when we might see its release.
The article also doesn’t necessarily confirm that the third film will go directly to Disney+, but the success of the second film on the streamer, combined with the fact that the article follows up the news in question by saying “His division makes two or three big-budget films annually for release in theaters and three modestly budgeted movies for Disney+,” seems to point in that direction.

About Hocus Pocus 2:

It’s been 29 years since someone lit the Black Flame Candle and resurrected the 17th-century sisters, and they are looking for revenge. Now it is up to three high-school students to stop the ravenous witches from wreaking a new kind of havoc on Salem before dawn on All Hallow’s Eve.
Hocus Pocus 2 stars:
- Bette Midler (The First Wives Club, Beaches)
- Sarah Jessica Parker (Sex and the City, Divorce)
- Kathy Najimy (Sister Act, Younger)
- Sam Richardson (The Tomorrow War)
- Doug Jones (The Shape of Water)
- Whitney Peak (Gossip Girl)
- Belissa Escobedo (American Horror Stories)
- Lilia Buckingham (Dirt)
- Froy Gutierrez (Teen Wolf)
- Tony Hale (Veep)
- Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso)
The film is directed by Anne Fletcher (Dumplin, The Proposal) from a screenplay by Jen D’Angelo (Workaholics) and a story by David Kirschner (Hocus Pocus, Chucky) & Blake Harris.
Jen D’Angelo, produced by Lynn Harris (King Richard, The Shallows), with Ralph Winter (Hocus Pocus, X-Men franchise), David Kirschner (Hocus Pocus, Chucky), and Adam Shankman (Disenchanted, Hairspray) serving as executive producers.
Hocus Pocus 2 set a record for streaming minutes by a movie on Nielsen’s weekly chart, drawing more than 2.7 billion minutes of viewing from September 26, 2022 to October 2, 2022.
Hocus Pocus 2 easily beat the previous streaming movie mark set by Disney’s Oscar-winning animated feature Encanto. It had 2.2 billion minutes of viewing from December 27th, 2021, through January 2nd, 2022.
The audience for Hocus Pocus 2, a followup to the 1993 original movie reuniting the trio of lead actresses, was pretty widely spread out, with the 2-to-11-year-old, 18-to-34 and 35-to-49 age groups each accounting for one-quarter of viewing, according to Nielsen. About 21% of viewing came in Hispanic homes.
With the sequel arriving, the original Hocus Pocus also made the chart, collecting 774 million minutes of streaming on Disney+, putting it at seventh place.
Check out Alex’s review of Hocus Pocus 2, which is now available to stream on Disney+.