Hocus Pocus 2 is a 2022 American fantasy comedy film directed by Anne Fletcher, written by Jen D'Angelo and produced by Walt Disney Pictures. A sequel to the 1993 film Hocus Pocus, it stars Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy, and Doug Jones reprising their roles, with Sam Richardson, Whitney Peak, Belissa Escobedo, Tony Hale, and Hannah Waddingham joining the cast in new roles.
Filming took place from October 2021 to January 2022 in Rhode Island, replacing Salem, Massachusetts. It was released on Disney+ on September 30, 2022. The film received mixed reviews, with praise for the cast performances, humor, and nostalgia, but criticism of the plot. It earned three nominations at the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Television Movie. A third installment is in-the-works, with Fletcher and D'Angelo returning as director and screenwriter, respectively.
Plot
In 1653 Salem, Massachusetts, Reverend Traske banishes 16-year-old Winifred Sanderson after she 'defied church authority' by refusing to marry John Pritchett. Rather than be away from her sisters, Mary and Sarah, “Winnie” takes them to a nearby forest. There, they meet with Mother Witch, who gives Winnie a magic, human-skin-bound book, with a living eyeball embedded in the cover, for her birthday; she also explicitly warns the trio against ever casting the Magicae Maxima spell, which makes the user 'all-powerful'. Mother Witch also teaches the trio how to keep their youth, using children. The sisters get revenge on the Reverend by cursing his home, which is engulfed in flames.
In 2022, 29 years after the Sanderson sisters were resurrected by the Black Flame Candle, local Salem teenagers Becca and Izzy prepare to celebrate Halloween and Becca's 16th birthday, but turn down a party invite from their former friend, Cassie Traske. Becca and Izzy visit a magic shop, housed in the Sandersons’ former cottage; the owner, Gilbert, gives Becca a candle for an annual birthday ritual. The girls light the candle and see that it is another Black Flame Candle. As there is a full moon, and the girls are both virgins, the candle resurrects the Sanderson sisters, yet again. The girls outwit the sisters in a local Walgreens and flee to the magic shop, where they find that Gilbert tricked them into reviving the witches, having seen them on Halloween in 1993 and having read how to make the candle in the spell book.
The sisters catch up to the girls and see a campaign flyer belonging to Mayor Jefry Traske, Cassie's father and Reverend Traske's direct descendant. Winifred decides they will cast the Magicae Maxima spell to eliminate him and take revenge on all of modern Salem. The sisters trap Izzy and Becca in the basement and leave to hunt down the mayor, whose blood is needed to complete the spell. They force Gilbert to collect the other ingredients.
The girls escape and head to the Traske house to warn the mayor while the sisters find their way to the town's Halloween carnival and enchant the citizens to help them find the mayor. Meanwhile, Gilbert digs up Billy Butcherson, who has been awake but entombed since 1993. He needs Billy's head for the spell, but tricks him into helping him collect the other ingredients first. The girls reunite with Cassie and trap the sisters in a salt circle in Cassie's garage before Mayor Traske returns home. The three girls make up, but their reunion is interrupted when the sisters escape the circle and kidnap Cassie to use her blood instead. Becca and Izzy follow them to the forbidden forest where Gilbert has assembled the ingredients and soon discover that Becca, like the Sandersons, is a natural witch.
The sisters partially cast the spell and increase their power, but Becca distracts them while Izzy rescues Cassie. Becca convinces Book that it does not have to answer to Winifred, and she and Book flee further into the forest. Book shows them the warning against the Magicae Maxima spell, stating that whoever casts it must give up what they cherish most as the price for the power. The girls agree to warn Winifred of the price of the spell, but are too late, and she becomes all-powerful as Mary and Sarah fade to dust. Winifred grows despondent and begs the girls to use their newfound powers to save her sisters. While they cannot save them, Becca, Cassie and Izzy join together in a coven and cast a reuniting spell, so Winifred happily fades away to be with her sisters.
