The supernatural comedy movie ‘Hocus Pocus 2’ on Disney+ is a sequel to the movie ‘Hocus Pocus,’ which came out in 1993. It is directed by Anne Fletcher and takes place 29 years after the events of the first movie.
It’s about three teenage girls who, by accident, bring the Sanderson Sisters back to life and bring them to present-day Salem after almost 30 years. The three high school students must find a way to stop the witches from destroying the world. They are to blame for the evil that lurks because they are there.
The movie is a great throwback to a classic hit from the early 1990s. It stars Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, Sarah Jessica Parker, Doug Jones, and Whitney Peak, and will be interesting to both old and new fans of the franchise. Also, the dark and mysterious tone goes well with the scary-looking backgrounds, which makes me wonder where the fantasy movie was shot. Well, let us tell you everything you need to know about the same!
Locations Where Hocus Pocus 2 Was Filmed
The movie “Hocus Pocus 2” was shot in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New York, especially in Providence County, Newport, Lincoln, Salem, and New York City. It looks like the main filming for the Disney+ movie began in October 2021 and ended in late January 2022. Reports say that in June 2022, a few more scenes were shot over the course of a couple of weeks. Now, let’s not waste any more time and start talking about all the places in the supernatural movie.
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The county of Providence in Rhode Island
Most of “Hocus Pocus 2” was shot in Providence County, which has more people than any other county in Rhode Island. It is said that the school scenes were filmed at La Salle Academy, which is at 612 Academy Avenue in Providence. The movie also used the Newman Cemetery in Rumford, East Providence, as an important place to film. Also, in December 2021, members of the cast and crew were seen filming important scenes in the Federal Hill neighborhood of Providence, which had been made to look like Halloween. They used Atwells Avenue, which is in Federal Hill, in particular.
Different places in Rhode Island
Key parts of “Hocus Pocus 2” were filmed in Newport’s Washington Square. It is a seaside city that is southeast of Providence on Narragansett Bay. It is also the county seat of Newport County. Also, in September 2021, the movie crew was seen building a set for the movie at Chase Farm at 667 Great Road in the town of Lincoln.
It looks like the “Hocus Pocus 2” crew also went to Salem, a historic city on the coast of Massachusetts’s Essex County, to shoot. Over the years, different kinds of movies and TV shows have been made in the city. “Hocus Pocus,” “The Town,” “American Hustle,” and “Defending Jacob” are a few that stand out.
The last reshoots for the Disney+ movie took place in New York City, which is the most populated city in the country. To be more specific, important scenes were shot in the streets of Astoria, which is in the Queens borough. After shooting some scenes around 34th Avenue in the neighborhood, they went to the Kaufman Astoria Studios at 34-12 36th Street to finish filming.
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Plot
Reverend Traske kicks a young girl named Winifred Sanderson out of Salem in the year 1653. Mary and Sarah are Winifred’s sisters. She doesn’t want to lose them, so she runs away with them to a nearby forbidden forest. There, they meet Mother Witch, who gives Winifred a magic book for her sixteenth birthday but tells the sisters not to use a spell called the Magicae Maxima. Mother Witch also taught her daughters that they had to kill other children to stay “young.”
In 2022, twenty-nine years after the Sanderson sisters were brought back to life by the Black Flame Candle, two Salem teens named Becca and Izzy are getting ready to celebrate Halloween and Becca’s sixteenth birthday. However, they turn down an invitation to a party from their friend Cassie Traske, with whom they are no longer in contact. Becca and Izzy go to Gilbert’s magic shop, which used to be the Sanderson cottage. Gilbert gives Becca a candle for the ritual they do every year. Becca and Izzy light the candle and find that it is another Black Flame Candle. Since there is a full moon and neither girl has ever been with a boy, the candle brings back the Sanderson sisters.
The girls figure out how to trick the sisters in a local Walgreens, and then they run away to the magic shop. There, they find out that Gilbert gave them the candle on purpose to bring the sisters back to life. He had seen them on Halloween in 1993, and Book had taught him how to make the candle. When the sisters catch up with the girls, they see a campaign flyer for Mayor Traske, Cassie’s dad and a direct descendant of Reverend Traske. Winifred says that they should use the Magicae Maxima spell to kill Traske and get back at Salem. The sisters trap Izzy and Becca in the basement and task Gilbert with collecting the ingredients for the spell while they hunt down Traske, his blood also being necessary to complete the spell.
The girls get away and go to the Traske house to tell the mayor, while the sisters go to the town’s Halloween carnival and use magic to get people to help them find the mayor. While this is going on, Gilbert digs up Billy Butcherson, who tells him that he has been alive but buried since 1993. Gilbert needs Billy’s head for the spell, but he tells Billy he’s trying to beat the sisters and gets Billy’s help by promising to tell everyone the truth about his relationship with Winifred (as they only kissed once).
The girls find Cassie and manage to trap the sisters in a salt circle in Cassie’s garage before Mayor Traske comes home and accidentally lets slip that Cassie is also a descendant of Reverend Traske. The three teens then make up, but their happiness doesn’t last long because Mary’s magic roombas, which she had been flying, free them from the circle. They take Cassie and run away to the forbidden forest, where Gilbert has put together all the parts of the spell, including Billy’s head. Soon after, Becca and Izzy show up, and they find out that Becca is also a witch. Becca keeps the sisters busy so Izzy can save Cassie. Unfortunately, only part of the spell has been cast, and now the sisters have more power. But Becca gets Book to agree that it doesn’t have to answer to Winifred. Book runs to Becca for help, and the two of them run deeper into the forest. Book shows them a warning about the Magicae Maxima spell, which says that whoever casts it must give up what they love most.
The girls agree to tell Winifred how much the spell will cost, but by the time they get there, she has already finished casting it, allowing the witches to stay alive until sunrise and cause trouble in Salem. Unfortunately, it turns out that Mary and Sarah have to pay for the spell by turning into dust. Winifred becomes very sad and asks the teens to use their new powers to save her sisters. Becca, Cassie, and Izzy form a coven and use a spell to get back together. Winifred is confused when her sisters don’t come back, but Becca tells her that the spell doesn’t bring Sarah and Mary back, it just sends Winifred to them. Winifred laughs with joy as she, too, disappears to be with her sisters again.
Gilbert is with the girls now. He put Billy’s head back on his body. When Billy realizes that all of Winifred’s spells have been broken, he too starts to fade away. Before he goes away for good, Gilbert promises Billy that he will keep his word and tell people about his life. The girls decide to find a new home for Book and, like the Sanderson sisters, walk off into the night to keep practicing their magic. As they leave, a bird that looks just like the one Mother Witch turned into flies over them.
As the end credits start, we see the witches performing in a recording studio that looks like it’s in Hell. In a scene after the credits, Gilbert’s black cat, Cobweb, jumps up on a shelf where another black candle is sitting. This shows that the Sandersons will eventually come back.
Production
In July 2014, it was reported that The Walt Disney Company was making a movie about witches that had supernatural elements and that Tina Fey would be a producer and star. But Deadline Hollywood put an end to rumors that the movie was a follow-up to Hocus Pocus. In a “Ask Me Anything” session on Reddit in November 2014, Bette Midler said she was ready and willing to play Winifred Sanderson again in a sequel. She also said that Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy were interested in playing Sarah and Mary Sanderson again. However, she stressed that Disney had not yet given the go-ahead for a sequel and urged fans of the first movie to try to convince Disney to make one. In November 2015, in response to a question about a sequel, Midler said in a Facebook Q&A, “After all these years and all the fan requests, I do believe I can stand and say a clear no.”
In June 2016, actor Doug Jones said that Disney had been thinking about making a sequel and that talks were going on behind the scenes to possibly keep the series going. Andy Cohen asked Sarah Jessica Parker about a second season of her HBO show Divorce in October 2016, when she was promoting it. Her response was “I’d really like that. I think we’ve made it clear that we’re really interested “, but she insisted that fans should push Disney to make a second movie. In his book “Hocus Pocus in Focus: The Thinking Fan’s Guide to Disney’s Halloween Classic,” Aaron Wallace lists several possible ways to make a sequel. However, he points out that the biggest problem with the project is that Walt Disney Studios is more interested in “tentpole” movies that will make a lot of money at the box office.
After years of rumors and speculation, Hocus Pocus writer Mick Garris said in September 2017 that he was writing a script for Hocus Pocus 2, and that it might be made into a TV movie for Disney Channel, Freeform, or ABC. Later, it was confirmed that instead, it would be a remake that would air on Freeform. The Royals writer Scarlett Lacey is set to write it, and the original film’s producer, David Kirschner, is set to be an executive producer. The original film’s director, Kenny Ortega, is not expected to be involved. The next month, Midler said she didn’t like the idea of a remake and wouldn’t be a part of it, even if they offered her a part. She also said she didn’t think they could do a good job of recasting her role as Winifred Sanderson.
Jones said in February 2018 that there had been talks about making a sequel set twenty years after the first movie and that he had been asked to be a part of it. He also said that he is still interested in playing Billy Butcherson again.
In July 2018, a book called Hocus Pocus and the All-New Sequel came out. It was a novelization of the movie and told a story that happened after the movie. The second movie is about Max and Allison’s daughter, Poppy. She grew up hearing the family story from the first movie, and her parents do everything they can to avoid Halloween. Poppy doesn’t believe the story, so she goes to the Sanderson house on Halloween, 25 years to the day after the movie, to try to prove it’s all a lie.
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