Via DisDining.com
Thackery Binx had to wait 300 years for a virgin to light a candle before he could be with the rest of his family. And it feels like it’s been that long since fans started asking Disney to make a sequel to the film that has become a cult classic — Hocus Pocus. Well, Disney has granted our wish and is now actively producing Hocus Pocus 2, with filming happening in Rhode Island.
Fans have been watching closely for any and all updates on what the new sequel will be about and who will star in it. We know that Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy will all be reprising their roles as Winifred, Sarah, and Mary Sanderson, and Doug Jones — who played Billy Butcherson — will also be returning.
Disney has also released a synopsis for the film, which was shared via MovieWeb:
“It’s been 29 years since someone lit the Black Flame Candle and resurrected the 17th-century sisters who were executed for practicing witchcraft, and they are looking for revenge. Now it is up to three high-school students to figure out how to stop the ravenous witches from wreaking a new kind of havoc on Salem before midnight on All Hallow’s Eve.”
While the synopsis doesn’t give us much, it’s something, and now we may have something more. Video shared on TikTok shows the set of Salem Village that has been recreated and some very recognizable red hair can be seen but on a child. The new video seems to indicate that Hocus Pocus 2 will show the Sanderson sisters as children, which could show us their family and how they became the soul-sucking sisters we met in the original film.
You can check out the video below and see if you can spot Winifred running around Salem!
It is also being reported that the stage representing the town of Salem is preparing for huge pyrotechnics to take place. According to The Providence Journal:
The state Department of Environmental Management sent air quality specialist Taylor Ryan to inspect the site Tuesday as part of the agency’s review of an open burning permit the production had applied for to burn down the village, according to DEM spokesman Michael J. Healey.
(The village includes nine wood-frame buildings, though most of them are missing one or more sides, only the sides that will show in the movie were fully constructed.)
When Ryan arrived on site, she learned, “They are not actually lighting the structure on fire. They are using ‘fire beams’ fueled by natural gas so it looks like the building is on fire from the camera, but nothing will be burnt down,” she wrote in an email, adding that flame-retardant material will be between the beams and the structures.
Between the footage of Winifred as a young girl and the fact that they are going to burn down Salem, it will be interesting to see what direction the new sequel film goes in. Since we saw the town of Salem in the original film, we know that if the village was burnt down, it was rebuilt and the Sanderson’s either didn’t have anything to do with it, or they did not feel a need to leave the village.
It is unknown when filming will be complete, but Hocus Pocus 2 is scheduled to be released on Disney+ in the fall of 2022.
