I Can’t Believe It Took 26 Years For Nicole Kidman’s $75M Horror Movie On Streaming To Finally Get A Sequel

Many movies get sequels many years later, but in some cases, like that of Practical Magic, it’s hard to believe that it has taken so long to finally get a second part. There are movies that didn’t do well with critics and at the box office during their initial release but ended up gaining a cult following as years passed – and such is the case for Practical Magic. Directed by Griffin Dunne and based on the 1995 novel of the same name by Alice Hoffman, Practical Magic took viewers to a small town in Massachusetts to meet the Owens family.

The Owens women carried a curse that doomed any man an Owens woman loves, leading sisters Sally (Sandra Bullock) and Gillian (Nicole Kidman) to see love in very different ways. Now a widow and living with her daughters and her aunts, Sally reunites with Gillian to use their magic together to destroy the evil spirit of Gillian’s abusive boyfriend, who they killed in self-defense. Practical Magic is now a must-watch classic for the Halloween season, and I can’t believe it took so long to get a sequel, but it’s finally happening almost three decades later.

Why Practical Magic 2 Is Finally Happening With Sandra Bullock & Nicole Kidman After 26 Years

The Long-Awaited Practical Magic Sequel Is Finally Happening

Although Practical Magic’s ending doesn’t set up a sequel, there’s a lot more about the Owens women to be explored. At the end of Practical Magic, to get Jimmy’s (Goran Visnjic) spirit out of Gillian’s body, the Owens women form a coven with the townswomen (of whom some had previously rejected them for being witches) and successfully exorcise Jimmy’s spirit. This also breaks the Owens’ curse, so Sally and Gary (Aidan Quinn) start a relationship without fear of the curse manifesting itself.

Practical Magic got mixed reviews from critics and still holds a 25% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, though against an 85% audience score.

On top of that, the Owens are finally welcomed into the town’s community, and they are no longer rejected for being witches. Despite its popularity and cult following nowadays, Practical Magic wasn’t well received by critics and general audiences during its initial release. Practical Magic got mixed reviews from critics and still holds a 25% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, though against an 85% audience score. When it comes to box office numbers, Practical Magic grossed $68.3 million against a budget of 75 million.

This performance with critics and viewers might have been the biggest factor in considering a sequel for Practical Magic, and by the time it became popular, its stars had already moved on to bigger and different projects. In addition to that, the Practical Magic novel didn’t get a sequel until 2021, when The Book of Magic was published. Hoffman wrote two prequel novels – The Rules of Magic (2017) and Magic Lessons (2020) – so there wasn’t material to bring the Owens back until now.

Practical Magic 2 Follows The Trend Of Cult '80s & '90s Horror Movies Getting Delayed Sequels

Practical Magic Is Another Addition To A Huge Current Trend

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The film industry is defined by trends, and many have been dominating it in recent years. Reboots, prequels, and legacy sequels are the biggest movie trends at the moment, through which many franchises and other beloved movies have been brought back to life, some more successfully than others. The sequel trend has been more common in franchises and movies released in the 1980s and 1990s, especially those in the horror genre. Ghostbusters, for example, was revived in 2021 with Jason Reitman’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife, and in 2022, Anne Fletcher brought the Sanderson Sisters back in Hocus Pocus 2.

Most recently, Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice got a long-awaited and delayed sequel in 2024 with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which was a hit with critics and general audiences. Practical Magic is now joining the fun with a direct sequel, based on The Book of Magic, and with Akiva Goldsman, who co-wrote the screenplay for the first movie, back to write the sequel. At the time of writing, Practical Magic 2 doesn’t have a director yet, but it’s bringing its main stars back.

Practical Magic 2 Bringing Back Sandra Bullock & Nicole Kidman Avoids A Big Problem With Hocus Pocus 2

Practical Magic 2 Learned A Big Lesson From Hocus Pocus 2

Despite being very different stories and styles, Practical Magic and Hocus Pocus are often compared due to both having witches as their main characters. With Practical Magic now getting a sequel and Hocus Pocus finally getting one in 2022, the comparisons have grown, but Practical Magic 2 already has a big advantage over Hocus Pocus 2. The return of the Sanderson sisters didn’t include Hocus Pocus’ heroes Dani, Max, and Allison, and, instead, introduced new characters who turned out to be a coven of their own (but using magic for good, obviously).

Related Practical Magic 2 Update Gives Me Hope For The Sequel To Do Justice To The First Movie An update from the producer of Practical Magic 2 gives me hope for the sequel doing justice to the first movie, but there's still one big challenge.

That is one of my problems with Hocus Pocus 2, but luckily, Practical Magic 2 is already avoiding that problem. Practical Magic 2 is bringing Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman back as Sally and Gillian, and it’s still to be seen if Stockard Chaning and Dianne Wiest will return as Aunts Frances and Jet (and I really hope they will). Practical Magic 2 will keep the focus on the Owens family with Sally’s daughters taking an active part, unlike Hocus Pocus 2, which moved away from the Dennisons and Allison and faced the Sandersons against new (and weak in terms of character) teenagers.