We are so back, witches. It’s been a tumultuous three years since Hocus Pocus 3 was first announced to be in development at Disney, with numerous updates from Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and other members of the cast about another return for the Sanderson Sisters. A trilogy capper to send off the series felt inevitable after Hocus Pocus 2 became a Disney+ smash hit and left room for more mayhem to come with the reveal of a second Black Flame candle and the presence of The Witch Mother (Hannah Waddingham), but the process hasn’t been that simple. Although things appeared to be trending in the wrong direction for a moment, the update everyone has been waiting for has finally arrived.
A new report confirms that the House of Mouse has officially cast a spell and brought the Halloween-coded threequel into early development. All three of Midler, Parker, and Kathy Najimy are also attached to reprise their witchy roles under Disney Live-Action Studios. Even better news for Hocus Pocus 3 is that there are reportedly plans for theatrical distribution, though the company has yet to confirm that. It wouldn’t be shocking to see the Sandersons head to the big screen, though. Hocus Pocus 2 broke records on streaming, becoming the most-watched original film on Disney+ in its first three days, showing that there is plenty of interest in seeing more of the trio.
A big factor in the long road to Hocus Pocus 3 was the departure of former Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production president Sean Bailey back in 2024. Bailey had originally announced the project in 2023, yet it was left hanging in his absence. Midler revealed last year that they finally had a “brilliant” script ready for the production, with only a few other details to work out behind the scenes, which, reportedly, were salary negotiations with the three stars. There’s no word yet on who is writing or directing the third installment, nor are there any plot details to share yet, but if there’s an idea ready to go, the Black Flame candle might be lit once again sooner than you think.
Collider Exclusive · Horror Survival Quiz Which Horror Villain Do You Have the Best Chance of Surviving? Jason Voorhees · Michael Myers · Freddy Krueger · Pennywise · Chucky
Five killers. Five completely different ways to die — if you’re not smart enough, fast enough, or self-aware enough to avoid it. Only one of them is the villain your particular set of instincts gives you a fighting chance against. Eight questions will figure out which one.
🏕️Jason
🔪Michael
💤Freddy
🎈Pennywise
🪆Chucky
01
Something feels wrong. You can’t explain it — you just know. What do you do? First instincts are the difference between the survivor and the first act casualty.
02
Where are you most likely to find yourself when things go wrong? Setting is everything in horror. Where you are determines which rules apply.
03
What is your most reliable survival asset? Every survivor has a quality the villain didn’t account for. What’s yours?
04
What kind of fear is hardest for you to fight through? Knowing your weakness is the first step to not dying because of it.
05
You’re with a group when things start going wrong. What’s your role? Horror movies are brutally clear about who survives group situations and who doesn’t.
06
What’s the horror movie mistake you’re most likely to make? Honest self-assessment is a survival skill. Denial is not.
07
What’s your best weapon against something that can’t be stopped by conventional means? Every horror villain has a weakness. The survivors are always the ones who find it.
08
It’s the final scene. You’re the last one standing. How did you make it? The final survivor always has a reason. What’s yours?
Your Survival Odds Have Been Calculated Your Best Chance Is Against…
Your instincts, your strengths, and your particular way of thinking under pressure point to one villain you actually have a fighting chance against. Everyone else — good luck.
Camp Crystal Lake · Friday the 13th
Jason Voorhees
Jason is relentless, but he is also predictable — and that is the gap you would exploit.
He moves in straight lines toward his target. He doesn’t strategise, doesn’t adapt, doesn’t outsmart. He simply pursues.
Your ability to keep moving, use the environment, and resist the panic that freezes most victims gives you a genuine edge.
The Crystal Lake survivors were always the ones who stopped running in circles and started thinking about terrain, water, and distance.
You think like that. Which means Jason, for all his indestructibility, would face someone who simply refused to be where he expected.
Haddonfield, Illinois · Halloween
Michael Myers
Michael watches before he moves. He is patient, methodical, and almost impossible to detect — until it’s too late for anyone who isn’t paying close enough attention.
But you are paying attention. You notice the shape in the window, the car parked slightly wrong, the silence where there should be sound.
Michael’s power lies in the invisibility of ordinary suburbia — the fact that nothing ever looks wrong until it already is.
Your spatial awareness and instinct to map every room, every exit, and every shadow before you need them is precisely the quality Laurie Strode had.
You are not a victim waiting to happen. You are someone who already suspects something is wrong — and acts on it.
Elm Street · A Nightmare on Elm Street
Freddy Krueger
Freddy wins by getting inside your head — using your own fears, your own memories, your own subconscious as weapons against you. That strategy requires a target who can be destabilised.
You are harder to destabilise than most. You’ve faced uncomfortable truths about yourself and you haven’t looked away.
The survivors on Elm Street were always the ones who understood what was happening and chose to face it rather than flee from it.
Freddy’s greatest weakness is that his power evaporates in the presence of someone who refuses to give him the fear he feeds on.
Your psychological resilience — the ability to stay grounded when reality itself becomes unreliable — is exactly the quality that keeps you alive here.
Derry, Maine · It
Pennywise
Pennywise is ancient, shapeshifting, and feeds on terror — but it has one critical vulnerability: it cannot function against someone who genuinely stops being afraid of it.
The Losers Club didn’t survive because they were braver than everyone else. They survived because they faced their fears together, and faced them honestly.
You ask the questions others avoid. You look directly at what frightens you rather than turning away.
That directness — the refusal to let fear fester in the dark — is Pennywise’s worst nightmare.
It chose the wrong target when it chose you. You are exactly the kind of person whose fear tastes like nothing at all.
Chicago · Child’s Play
Chucky
Chucky’s greatest advantage is that nobody takes him seriously until it’s already too late. He exploits the gap between how something looks and what it actually is.
You don’t have that gap. You take threats seriously regardless of how they present — and you never make the mistake of underestimating something because of its size or appearance.
Chucky relies on surprise, on the delay between recognition and response. You close that delay faster than almost anyone.
Your instinct to treat every unfamiliar thing with appropriate scepticism — rather than dismissing it because it seems absurd — is the exact quality that keeps you breathing.
Against Chucky, not laughing is already winning. You are very good at not laughing.
Will Other Original ‘Hocus Pocus’ Cast Members Return for ‘Hocus Pocus 3’?
The original Hocus Pocus, directed by Kenny Ortega, hit theaters back in 1993 and became a Halloween classic, taking place in Salem, Massachusetts during the spooky holiday as Winnie (Midler), Sarah (Parker), and Mary (Najimy) are inadvertently resurrected hundreds of years after their prime. Upon their return, they pick right up where they left off, attempting to steal the life from the town’s children to become immortal. It’s left up to Max (Omri Katz), his younger sister Dani (Thora Birch), his crush Allison (Vinessa Shaw), and the magical talking cat Thackery Binx (Jason Marsden) to stop them before they can make their reign of terror last forever. Anne Fletcher‘s sequel, meanwhile, introduced a new slate of stars, including Belissa Escobedo, Tony Hale, Whitney Peak, and Sam Richardson, as the witches returned 20 years later with a dastardly new plan for the people of Salem.
While it’s impossible to make a new Hocus Pocus without the Sandersons, none of the original stars, save for Doug Jones‘ Billy Butcher, made it back for the sequel. However, they’ve been vocal about wanting to get involved with whatever their old witchy foes had in store. During a panel at MegaCon Orlando, hosted by Collider’s Maggie Lovitt earlier this year, Katz and Marsden shared that they weren’t in the loop yet about the threequel. “Your first question about Hocus Pocus 3, as far as I know, there is a development deal, and that’s all I think we know,” the former responded, before Marsden clarified that, “No one has contacted us.” Katz was particularly uncertain about Hocus Pocus 3‘s future with Josh D’Amaro taking over for Bob Iger, but reaffirmed that, if it happened, they’d want to be summoned back, too.
“But yeah, it was announced that it was greenlit. We have not been contacted, and then you all know this new CEO with Disney, which means things are going to change even more. We don’t know the life of this. If they do it, and they invite us, absolutely. I think we’d all like to do it again, totally.“
Stay tuned here at Collider for more on Hocus Pocus 3 now that the pot is officially bubbling.
