“Sisssstaaaahs… prepare thyselves. ‘Tis time.” With that caption, and a shadowy production still of three silhouetted witches framed by heavy iron doors, Bette Midler sent Halloween fans into a frenzy earlier this month. Hocus Pocus 3 is officially in production at Disney Live Action Studios. The Sanderson Sisters are all back. The most wonderful time of the year just got more magical.
The sisters are summoned
Midler, who plays Winifred Sanderson, shared the production still on her Instagram around October 2, the first tangible evidence that cameras are rolling on the third chapter. The image shows the sisters in smoky silhouette, and it does exactly what a first look should: it tells you nothing and everything at once. The witches are back. Salem awaits. That is all you need.
The casting was confirmed by Deadline back in May: all three Sanderson Sisters are returning. Bette Midler as Winifred, Sarah Jessica Parker as Sarah, Kathy Najimy as Mary. The trio that made the 1993 original a perennial Halloween staple and carried the 2022 sequel to massive Disney+ numbers. There is no Hocus Pocus without all three of them, and Disney clearly knows it.
A spell ten years in the brewing
This film has been a slow burn. Disney first greenlit Hocus Pocus 3 back in June 2023, but things stayed quiet until October 2025, when Midler revealed she had seen a script she called “brilliant.” Then came Deadline’s May 2026 report that the film was officially in early development at Disney Live Action Studios. Now Midler’s Instagram has all but confirmed that development has become production.
The patience makes sense. The franchise is one of the strangest success stories in Disney history: a 1993 theatrical release that underperformed, resurrected by three decades of cable reruns and Halloween marathons into a genuine cultural institution. The 2022 sequel proved the audience was real and ravenous, premiering to one of the biggest Disney+ debuts of that year and spending weeks in the streamer’s top ten. Halloween nostalgia is a renewable resource. You do not rush the third one. You get it right.
The case for cautious optimism
Plot details: none. Zero. The production still is the entire marketing campaign so far, and honestly, it is working. What the film needs to deliver is the same alchemy as the first two: the sisters’ gloriously unhinged chemistry, a Salem that feels lived-in and a little bit haunted, and at least one musical number destined for Halloween playlists forever. Midler calling the script “brilliant” is the best early indicator we could ask for; she has never been shy about her standards.
October is the Sanderson Sisters’ month and everyone else is just visiting. Kids who watched the original on the Disney Channel in the ’90s are now parents showing it to their own kids, which is exactly the multi-generational engine Disney builds franchises on. This Halloween is stacked everywhere, from packed seasonal lineups to Universal Studios Hollywood’s first-class holiday makeover, but for pure witchy joy, nothing touches the sisters.
Every great franchise third act needs a reason to exist beyond the box office, and this one has it built in: the story of three witches who keep getting summoned back by the people who love them is, itself, the story of this franchise. The fans lit the black flame candle. The sisters came running. Twice now. Amok, amok, amok.
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