“Practical Magic 2” is in the works, and Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman are in negotiations to return as witchy sisters Sally and Gillian Owens, respectively, per Variety.
Warner Bros. announced the news on TikTok, captioning a clip from the 1998 romance-fantasy classic: “It’s official… Practical Magic 2 is coming!”
Bullock and Kidman are expected to produce, Varity said, alongside Denise Di Novi, who produced the original film and who is known for female-focused flicks, including “Heathers” and “Little Women.” Oscar-winning ‘A Beautiful Mind’ writer Akiva Goldsman, who wrote the original film’s script, will take charge of the screenplay.
The original film told the story of Sally and Gillian, two sisters who are descended from a centuries-long line of witches and who were raised and trained in practical magic by their aunts after their parents’ untimely deaths. After accidentally poisoning Gillian’s abusive boyfriend, the sisters reanimate his corpse and have to fight his evil spirit while also contending with a curse that any man who loves an Owens woman will die.
“Where ‘Bewitched’ had just one romantic sorceress trying to contain her power while indulging ordinary human passions, this one has two — the ever-wholesome Sandra Bullock, an Elizabeth Montgomery surrogate if there could be one, and the ever seductive Nicole Kidman,” The Times said in its 1998 review of the original movie.
“Bullock and Kidman provide spunky star turns, and [Stockard] Channing and [Dianne] Wiest play the eccentric aunts with apt hamminess,” the review continued. “It just doesn’t add up to anything — or break down — to anything special. For good or bad, there’s hardly a memorable scene in it.”
That said, the sequel announcement is welcome news for fans, some of whom were baited by a 2019 announcement that HBO was creating a prequel series featuring the sisters’ aunts, Franny and Jet, as young witches. The project was axed this February, even as Di Novi was teasing to yet another return to small-town Massachusetts.
“I think the fans are going to be thrilled,” she told UPI in February, adding that something was “in the works” from “the world of ‘Practical Magic.’”
Much of the project remains under wraps, and a release date has yet to be announced. In the meantime, “Practical Magic” is streaming on Max.