I’ve Dreamt of Days Like This

"Deals are in process" for a Practical Magic sequel. Finally!

By Audra Heinrichs | June 11, 2024 | 11:49am

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It’s been 26 years since the release of Practical Magic, the cult classic starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman as a pair of cursed witch sisters longing for the one thing they can’t conjure up in their kitchen: true love. Despite truly dreadful reviews upon its release (the Los Angeles Times, for example, likened it to “a sitcom with the air let out of it”), the film, adapted from Alice Hoffman’s 1995 novel of the same name, has become beloved by multiple generations in recent years. Now, fans’ long-held wishes for a sequel appear to be coming true.

On Monday, People reported that not only are “deals are in process” for Bullock and Kidman to team up again—to star in and produce the film—but Akiva Goldsman has been tapped to write the screenplay. (Goldsman won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for A Beautiful Mind in 2001; that movie also won Best Picture that year. I’m choosing to believe the Practical Magic sequel will be just as successful!)

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In October 2022, when Jezebel spoke to Hoffman, she was hopeful for a sequel and noted that Warner Bros. already owned the rights to the other books in the Practical Magic series. What the movie means to so many isn’t lost on her. Once there’s a chill in the air each fall, social media is flooded with Practical Magic memes, quotes, and costume recreations. Each October, the little town of Coupeville on Whidbey Island (just north of Seattle), where the film was shot, welcomes super fans for an anniversary celebration.

“For me—as I think it is for a lot of women and girls—I felt that they were figures that had power, and I felt very powerless,” Hoffman said of her protagonists. “It was just very exciting and thrilling to think of a witch who didn’t care if she was portrayed as ugly—which of course, I felt like I was—or not beautiful enough or whatever, but still had power and didn’t need to be rescued.”

The film has clearly meant a lot to its stars, too.

“I love that movie,” Kidman recalled during a reunion with Bullock at the Oscars in 2018. “I showed that movie to my kids. It’s a little above their [level of understanding]…But we’re really good sisters.” I couldn’t agree more.

Currently, there are no available details as to whether the film will stay true to Hoffman’s sequel, The Book of Magic, or when it will be due out, but I personally will be watching this space. In the meantime, may I just note that Practical Magic is streaming on Max and the Practical Magic side of TikTok—in which women make their own midnight margaritas and create cozy, candlelit spaces for spells—might just keep you satiated until a release date is announced.