The forthcoming Practical Magic sequel will keep the spirit of the original.
In an interview with People magazine, producer Denise Di Novi, who worked on 1998 film and will co-produce the upcoming follow-up, teased that the new film will “honor” the original.
“I think the big mistake people make with sequels is when they kind of want to reinvent the wheel and be totally original and surprise people that it’s different or whatever,” Di Novi said.
She noted that the team behind the new film “gets how important the first movie is to so many people, women in particular, and we want to honor that for sure.”
“There’s a joyousness to that movie, and there’s such beautiful themes of sisterhood and family and acceptance, tolerance, love,” Di Novi added. “Just the title that Alice Hoffman, the amazing author, thought of that’s now become part of the vernacular of Practical Magic is that there’s magic in daily life, in love, in family, in sisterhood. It’s magical, and we all have our gifts, and women have very particular and specific gifts. We really want to honor all of that.”
It was announced in June that Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman will return for the sequel. Akiva Goldsman, one of the writers behind the original, will pen the screenplay. Bullock and Kidman are expected to produce alongside Di Novi.
Plot details are not yet known but Di Novi previously told Entertainment Weekly that the sequel will adapt Hoffman’s The Book of Magic, the author’s 2021 follow-up novel that serves as the fourth in the Practical Magic book series.
The original 1998 Practical Magic starred Kidman and Bullock as two orphaned sisters who come from a long line of witches. While being raised by their aunts in Massachusetts, they had to contend with a curse that kept them from never finding love.
“The response on TikTok was unbelievable, and it’s not quitting,” Di Novi said of the reaction to the sequel news. “It was very touching to see how happy people were after Warner Brothers announced the movie.”
Di Novi also praised Kidman and Bullock for doing the “most amazing work in the last 25 years” since teaming on the film. “Their careers have been so incredible, and just to have them back together again is a dream come true,” she said.
