It’s rare, but there’s a reboot in the works that we can actually get behind: Warner Bros. announced a follow-up to 1998’s Practical Magic, with Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman in talks to return.
Practical Magic received mixed reviews when it first hit theaters 26 years ago, but has since become a cult classic. Directed by Joan Didion’s nephew, Griffin Dunne, and adapted from the 1995 novel of the same name by Alice Hoffman, Practical Magic has long been mood board fodder for people into witches, The Craft, and ’90s New Age vibes—in other words, a solid contingency of current TikTok, Pinterest, and Tumblr users.
Akiva Goldsman, who was one of the writers of the original film, will pen the screenplay. (He also co-wrote the ’90s camp classic Batman Forever, in which Kidman played the love interest to Val Kilmer’s Bruce Wayne). Bullock and Kidman are expected to produce.
The original Practical Magic tells the story of sisters Sally (Bullock) and Gillian (Kidman) Owens, who are ostracized growing up in their small Massachusetts town due to centuries-old witchcraft allegations surrounding their family. As it turns out, their ancestor, the witch Maria Owens, did cast a generational curse on her descendants, resulting in the deaths of the Owens sisters’ parents and their inability to have healthy, lasting relationships with men. When grown-up Gillian gets involved with a dangerously abusive man (played back then by ER’s Goran Visnjic), the supernatural sisters must use their magic to take him down and finally reverse their curse.
Bullock and Kidman in 1998’s Practical Magic
In addition to Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest, Evan Rachel Woods also appeared in the original film as one of Bullock’s daughters. We can only hope that she’ll have at least a cameo in the Practical Magic sequel and that there will be as much liberal use of velvet, lace, and wispy side bangs to keep the ’90s magic alive.
Kidman is busy working on several projects, including reportedly the highly-anticipated third season of Big Little Lies. Bullock has kept a relatively low profile as of late, most recently starring opposite Channing Tatum in 2022’s adventure comedy The Lost City and 2018 Netflix horror hit Bird Box.
