Witchy Nostalgia

Hocus Pocus 2 Trailer Fixes Everything Wrong With The Original

Bringing back the funny witches minus the creepy, awkward sexual energy.

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Hocus Pocus movie poster with Sarah Jessica Parker, Bette Midler, and Kathy Najimy
Walt Disney Pictures

It’s been rumored for a while, and now it’s been turned into fruition — the Sanderson sisters are back! Disney released the first teaser trailer for Hocus Pocus 2, and in the quick clip we’re able to see that this trailer fixes everything that was wrong with the original. Here are the details.

The original Hocus Pocus was released as a comedy movie in 1993 and featured Kathy Najimy, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Bette Midler playing sister witches who were brought back to life accidentally by Max, an awkward teenager who was new to the town.

The original has been loved for decades, having its own cult following which was loud enough for Disney to pay attention and produce a sequel. But there were some people who were put off by the original movie, mostly because it was creepy. Not in a fun witch way — a gross sexual way.

The original centers around Max, a boy who is coming of age, and is like many other teen boys around that age. But as Vox put it, the original Hocus Pocus took it too far.

“Many movies start off this way, but few include cringe-inducing scenes where the protagonist pretends a pillow is the object of his affection and spoons it while whispering, ‘Oh, Allison, you're so soft,’” Vox writes. “There's even a split second where Max breaks the fourth wall and makes eye contact with the audience while hugging his pillow girlfriend.”

And, really, it kind of gets weirder from there. Thankfully, though, it appears all that awkward sexual energy is absent from the sequel — at least from what we can tell from the teaser trailer.

So, what can we expect from the sequel? The official synopsis says Hocus Pocus 2 will take place 29 years after the original events, which explains how we’re able to have the same Sanderson sisters reprise their roles.

“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,” the logline reads.

The new movie will be available for streaming on Disney+ starting Friday, September 30, 2022.

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