Hocus Pocus 2's Original Ending Was Wildly Different, Certainly Better
The children-eating Sanderson sisters should have sung their song in purgatory – that should have been the original finale of Hocus Pocus 2, a movie about three witches who were accidentally summoned to modern-day Salem. The film was released in September.
Hocus Pocus 2 directed by Anne Fletcher is a follow-up on the first movie of 1993. Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy reunited to play the same trio of witches from the Halloween classic shot some 30 years ago. In Hocus Pocus a brother and sister accidentally brought back the child-hungry Sanderson sisters three centuries after they died.
The new Disney+ film follows teenage girls who light the Black Flame Candle and summon the cannibal witches again but manage to fight them using their wits and the witches' own spellbook. Hocus Pocus 2 proved to be a success, but what's the story with the original ending?
The film's finale shows the three Sanderson sisters in a music studio singing The Witches are Back, a twist on Elton John's The Bitch is Back. But the film's costume designer Salvador Perez told the podcast The Art of Kindness with Robert Peterpaul that he had originally started making costumes for a completely different ending.
"Opposed to them singing in the music studio, it was going to be them performing onstage in Purgatory. I was supposed to do a gold version of them in gold costumes. We started that process and then they said 'no we're not gonna do it, we don't have the time or the money'," he said.
Salvador Perez explained that his concept of Vegas-style witches in gold singing for the audience of the dead wearing historical costumes of the 15th, 16th, 17th centuries all in red would make a different ending whatsoever.
Following the release of Hocus Pocus 2 on Disney+, the fans would most likely love to know what's in store for the franchise and could there be Hocus Pocus 3. And while the reviews were mixed, the sequel showed good numbers after the release. Speaking about her film with SFX Magazine, director Anne Fletcher admitted that she "kept it wide open for any sequel". Midler, Najimy, and Parker, haven't ruled out a third Hocus Pocus sometime in the future too. "Of course I'd be happy to have a conversation [for a third film]," Sarah Jessica Parker said. Midler is also happy they finally got their own franchise.
"The fact that we got to do this finally, after 30 years of promoting the idea, I'm glad we got to do it. I'd love to have a franchise — especially a character I love playing. If there was a third one, of course I'd sign on, but I don't know how," she admitted.