Hocus Pocus 2: Bette Midler says she’s ‘absolutely’ up for a sequel to the 1993 cult classic

Hold on to your broomsticks.

Bette Midler has let fans know that she is most certainly game for another go-round as the witchy Winifred Sanderson, a role she last played back in 1993’s creepy cult favorite Hocus Pocus.

The Big Business star, 74, in fact told Entertainment Tonight on Wednesday that she’s ‘absolutely’ game for a sequel, while talking to the outlet about another of her projects.  

‘I can’t wait to fly!’ Midler added, all the while with her trademark grin.

The outlet even reports that Bette said that ‘we’re just talking logistics’ when it comes to how exactly she’ll be involved in the new film, which has been in the works for awhile and will see the Oscar nominee reunited with her original witch sisters Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy.

And while the news is sure to delight the droves upon droves of Hocus Pocus fans, it’s not too much of a surprise, as all three actresses have already agreed to participate in a virtual HP reunion to benefit Bette’s New York Restoration Project next month. 

The virtual fundraiser is titled In Search of the Sanderson Sisters: A Hocus Pocus Hulaween Takeover, and it’s happening next month leading up to Halloween.

And in terms of the upcoming Disney+ sequel itself, it was something of a no-brainer as the fandom for Hocus Pocus is among the most loyal, with Najimy last year even referring to them as ‘rabid’.

Curiously, Hocus Pocus failed to impress film critics or audiences when it came out in July, 1993 – the Disney movie scored a dismal 37 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, and raked in just $39.5million off of a $28million budget.

And it’s said that Midler, who was something of a box office draw at the time thanks to solid entries like 1988’s Beaches, turned down the Whoopi Goldberg hit Sister Act – which was in fact written for Bette – and filmed Hocus Pocus instead.

However, the Halloween-themed magical movie was something of a sleeper hit sensation, steadily gaining in popularity over the years as a rental and streaming favorite, especially among the millennial set.

One need only to again look at the film’s Rotten Tomatoes page and find the audience score – a far better 71 percent, which clues in to just how beloved the film is amongst fans.

The new film is currently listed as in pre-production according to its IMDb page, with Hairspray’s Adam Shankman attached as director.  

Midler, meanwhile, is also reteaming with another two female costars from one of her hit 90s films – Diane Keaton and Goldie Hawn of First Wives Club fame – for a new comedy called Family Jewels. 

That holiday-themed movie will see the three stars all playing ex-wives of the same man, forced to spend Christmas together after the man they were all once married to drops dead.