The story of Hocus Pocus is a wild one, as the 1993 film wasn’t a critical or financial success at the time of its release. Now considered a Halloween classic, so much so that it just spawned a hugely successful straight-to-streaming sequel last year (Hocus Pocus 2), the film was originally released in the summer of 1993, and actually lost money for Disney at the time.
Thirty years later and Hocus Pocus has become a merchandising powerhouse, considered by many to be one of the very best family-friendly horror movies ever made. Go figure!
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures made the smart decision to bring Hocus Pocus back to theaters for its 30th anniversary this past weekend, and the movie managed to scare up enough money that it found itself in the #10 slot on the weekend’s domestic box office charts!
Decades after its original release, Hocus Pocus just made $1,609,874 in just 1,430 theaters here in the United States, proving audiences can’t get enough of the Sanderson sisters.
Disney has also proven without a shadow of a doubt that Hocus Pocus 2 would’ve made a killing in theaters if it had been given a theatrical run last Halloween season, instead of going direct-to-Disney+. Perhaps Disney won’t make the same mistake when Hocus Pocus 3 comes around. Anne Fletcher is returning to direct the second sequel, we recently learned.
Bee Delores just celebrated 30 years of Hocus Pocus here on BD over the summer, writing: “It’s still an extraordinarily fun picture 30 years later.” Bee’s article continues…
“There’s no better way to relive your childhood than watching a favorite over and over again. From the spellbook bound in human flesh to the witches’ sinister playfulness, Hocus Pocus remains one of the greatest children’s horror movies of all time.
“It’s still so damn magical – and practically perfect in every way.”
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