Broom fell… company’s coming.
After 26 years the Owens women are returning. Warner Bros. announced a followup film to the 1998 classic, “Practical Magic,” with Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman in talks to return.
The first movie starred Bullock and Kidman as the witchy Owens sisters, who get wrapped in supernatural coverup after Bullock (unintentionally) drugs and kills Kidman’s abusive ex-boyfriend (Goran Višnjić) forcing them to reanimate his corpse. Directed by Griffin Dunne and adapted from the 1995 novel of the same name by Alice Hoffman, the original film stands as a beloved, spooky season staple for people who are really into crystals.
Akiva Goldsman will write the screenplay for the new movie, with Bullock and Kidman expected to produce alongside Denise Di Novi.
Fans began buzzing about the future of “Practical Magic” on Sunday, when an announcement was made at midnight on TikTok — a nod to the “midnight margaritas” scene from the first film — that the film was now available on digital and available to stream on Max. But the big news was saved for Monday morning, where it was revealed that “Practical Magic 2” was officially in the works.
Back in 2019, HBO Max was pursuing a “Practical Magic” spinoff series, “Rules of Magic,” based on Hoffman’s prequel novel. That series eventually disappeared into the Hollywood ether, but the fandom lives on.
The film follows the women from the Owens family, a group of magically inclined, spellcasting ladies who are blessed with the supernatural gift but cursed by their matriarch. After being abandoned by her lover, pregnant and alone, Maria Owens cast a spell upon herself that she would never again feel the agony of love. According to “Practical Magic” lore and cast member Stockard Channing, “As her bitterness grew, the spell turned into a curse. A curse on any man who dared love an Owens woman.” Enter Bullock and Kidman, two sisters hellbent on breaking that curse and freeing themselves from a lifetime of malicious gossip from their townsfolk.
The original film is stuffed with its own kind of magic from the pitch-perfect Alan Silvestri score (the first giveaway at Warner Bros. tease earlier this week online) to the way Dunne filmed the Owens paranormal acts, well, practically. Plus, the soundtrack is loaded with actual witchy geniuses including Stevie Nicks’ re-recording of “Crystal” and “If You Ever Did Believe” along with Joni Mitchell’s “A Case of You.”
Please enjoy this unhinged old trailer that paints “Practical Magic” as a sort of strange “we kiss men and they die” type of romantic comedy including loads of needle drops that are not in the film at all.