Hocus Pocus (1993) on Netflix
PG19931h 36mComedyFamilyFantasy
In 1693, Thackery Binx tries to rescue his sister from the Sanderson sisters and is turned into a black cat. Three centuries later, Max Dennison lights the Black-Flame Candle in their cottage.
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb6.9/10174,135 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes41%
Trailer
Plot summary
Three centuries before, in Salem, the sisters Winifred, Mary and Sarah Sanderson are condemned for witchcraft, but Winifred's curse promises that a virgin who lights the Black-Flame Candle on All Hallows' Eve will bring them back. In the present day, Max Dennison has just moved to Salem from Los Angeles, and on Halloween he takes his younger sister Dani trick-or-treating and meets his classmate Allison Watts. The three of them slip into the old Sanderson cottage, now a museum, and Max lights the candle. The witches return, and the children get help from a talking black cat, Thackery Binx, who remembers the sisters from long ago. The Sanderson sisters need a child's life force to stay young, and Dani is the one they want.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Hocus Pocus (1993)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Director Kenny Ortega met with Leonardo DiCaprio about playing Max in Hocus Pocus after being impressed by his audition, but DiCaprio was too busy working on What's Eating Gilbert Grape to take the role.
- The film's central witch, Winifred, was originally written for Cloris Leachman, and production stalled several times until 1992, when Bette Midler expressed interest in the script and the project immediately went forward.
- Mick Garris and David Kirschner pitched Hocus Pocus to Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, but Spielberg refused to co-produce it, seeing Disney as a competitor to Amblin in the family film market.
- Rosie O'Donnell was offered the role of Mary Sanderson but turned it down because she did not want to play a mean witch.
- James Horner was originally slated to score Hocus Pocus but became unavailable at the last minute, so John Debney scored the whole film in two weeks; Horner returned to write Sarah's theme, "Come Little Children," sung by Sarah Jessica Parker.
- Annual airings on Disney Channel and Freeform every October led audiences to rediscover Hocus Pocus, causing a yearly spike in home media sales each Halloween season and helping make the film a cult classic.
