30 Years Later, Hocus Pocus Has Re-Entered The Top Ten At The Box Office
It may not have dominated the conversation over the weekend but, somewhat quietly, a bonafide cult classic of the Halloween season made its return to theaters, and did so pretty successfully. Disney decided to re-release 1993's "Hocus Pocus" for the movie's 30th anniversary and, even with minimal advertising, the film found its audience and managed to crack the Top 10 at the box office. It's a pretty remarkable turn of events for a movie that seemed destined for obscurity when it was initially released.
Playing on just over 1,400 screens nationwide, director Kenny Ortega's "Hocus Pocus" took in $1.5 million, securing the No. 10 spot on the charts for the weekend, per The Numbers. It made quite a bit more than "Expend4bles" ($1 million), which has only been in theaters for a few weeks, kicking Lionsgate's expensive action flick out of the Top 10. Not bad for the witchy movie, which was a straight-up flop in its day. But the fact that the Sanderson Sisters managed to make a mark at the box office all these years later speaks volumes about the film's reputation in the modern context.
Disney, rather curiously, decided to release "Hocus Pocus" in the middle of the summer moviegoing season back in 1993. Despite being a clear-cut Halloween film, it was released in July against stiff competition from movies like "Jurassic Park," which was in the middle of a record-breaking run and soaking up all of the attention. As one might expect, that did not equate to success. "Hocus Pocus" came and went from theaters in a hurry. Fortunately, the Black Flame Candle continued to burn as audiences discovered the movie all on their own in the years to come.
From flop to Halloween classic
In its day, "Hocus Pocus" made just shy of $45 million against a $28 million budget. When accounting for marketing, it was a flop for Disney and seemed like it was destined to be forgotten. But this was a different time, and cable — not to mention home video — were much bigger parts of the equation. Thanks in no small part to the film playing on the Disney Channel during the Halloween season in the years that followed, viewers began to discover the film and it quietly became a straight-up classic for '90s kids.
There's no question that Disney has made a nice chunk of change from this movie through other revenue streams over the years — just walk into any Spirt Halloween today, for example, and you'll see entire "Hocus Pocus" sections. This latest theatrical run is icing on the cake. It's telling that Disney didn't time the release over the summer to line up with the actual 30th anniversary. Rather, the studio understands that this is a Halloween staple through and through.
Movies that are outright flops don't tend to get sequels. It's again telling that last year saw the release of "Hocus Pocus 2" on Disney+. One of the only peculiar things about it is, for whatever reason, the brass at the studio didn't believe the sequel was worthy of a theatrical release. There's clearly an audience for it. Who knows? If we end up getting a "Hocus Pocus 3," maybe we'll finally get a movie with the Sanderson Sisters released during Halloween in theaters.