Hocus Pocus becoming a Halloween classic is an unusually gradually one that takes place after its release in 1993, with the Disney comedy underperforming at the time. While the return of the Sanderson sisters Winifred (Better Midler), Sarah (Sarah Jessica Parker), and Mary (Kathy Najimi) in Hocus Pocus 2 is being greeted with the kind of fanfare one would expect from such a long-awaited sequel, the movie being released on Disney+ on September 30 shows far better timing than that of the original Hocus Pocus.
Despite its very overt Halloween-based story and style, Hocus Pocus was released in theaters on July 16, 1993. This proved to be a very ill-conceived decision on the part of Disney, with Hocus Pocus earning $45 million against a budget of $28 million. With an at-best middling performance like that, Hocus Pocus seemed like a one-and-done, but being such powerful witches, the Sanderson sisters had more tricks in their cauldron.
Hocus Pocus steadily grew more popular in the years after its release, particularly with the help of Halloween cable airings that would eventually make it into a staple of the Halloween season. While that belated popularity was what made Hocus Pocus popular enough for Disney to greenlight Hocus Pocus 2 so many years later, the release date of the latter is capitalizing on Halloween. That Hocus Pocus did not do the same was a strange decision that truly hurt it.
How Hocus Pocus' 1993 Summer Release Hurt The Movie
Hocus Pocus is a movie with Halloween written all over it, taking place in Salem, Massachusetts on Halloween starring the best Halloween movie witches, the Sanderson sisters as its antagonists. With other characters like the resurrected zombie Billy Butcherson (Doug Jones) and the centuries-old talking cat Thackery Binx (Jason Marsden) guiding the young protagonists of the story, Hocus Pocus was clearly tailored to debut close to Halloween. Sadly, releasing Hocus Pocus in July, in commercial , was never going to be an immediate success
Having a particular holiday like Halloween attached to a movie's story makes releasing it during that timeframe not just smart business, but arguably necessary for it to achieve the greatest success possible. Though Hocus Pocus was initially planned to be darker, it still was a Halloween movie to the core with Disney's release strategy greatly hurting its marketability by not taking full advantage of that. Though Hocus Pocus eventually rose to become a Halloween tradition for millions, actually releasing in Halloween of 1993 could have enabled it to accomplish that much sooner.
Evidently, that mistake is also a lesson that Hocus Pocus 2 has taken to heart. Paradoxically, the long gap between Hocus Pocus and Hocus Pocus 2 feels fittingly meta with the Sanderson sisters returning to bewitch Salem once more on Halloween after many years. Thankfully, with more Halloween fun seen Hocus Pocus 2 is making sure it really is the Halloween time of year that they are returning to.
