22 Bewitching Secrets You Didn’t Know About Hocus Pocus (Including a Surprising Star Who Turned Down a Part in the Film!)

First released in 1993, starring Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy and Sarah Jessica Parker, Hocus Pocus has become a beloved Halloween classic, cementing itself in pop culture history.

Since the original movie’s premiere, Midler, Najimy and Parker joined forces again to bring the Sanderson sisters back in the long-awaited Disney+ sequel, Hocus Pocus 2, in 2022.

Even if you watch it religiously on another glorious morning during the spooky season, there’s a lot of insider info bubbling beneath the, well, cauldron, to brush up on. Here are 22 things you may not have known about the cult classic (that aren’t just a bunch of hocus pocus).

The film wasn’t released during Halloween

From left: Kathy Najimy as Mary Sanderson, Bette Midler as Winifred Sanderson and Sarah Jessica Parker as Sarah Sanderson in 1993’s ‘Hocus Pocus’.
Buena Vista/Courtesy Everett Collection

Despite being a fan favorite every October, Hocus Pocus was actually released months before Halloween on July 16, 1993.

It wasn’t initially called Hocus Pocus

From left: Vinessa Shaw as Allison, Omri Katz as Max Dennison and Thora Birch as Dani Dennison in 1993’s ‘Hocus Pocus’.

Mary Evans/Ronald Grant/Everett

During its early development, Hocus Pocus was titled Halloween House, per Entertainment Weekly (via Bloody Disgusting). In fact, screenwriter Mick Garris envisioned the 1993 movie as much darker than the beloved family-friendly flick it’s known as today.

It was originally a flop

From left: Kathy Najimy as Mary Sanderson, Bette Midler as Winifred Sanderson and Sarah Jessica Parker as Sarah Sanderson in 1993’s ‘Hocus Pocus’.

Disney

The film debuted in fourth place at the box office, earning just $39.5 million in its initial theatrical run, according to Yahoo Entertainment. However, it has since garnered a cult audience — and even hit the No. 2 spot at the box office in 2020, nearly three decades after its premiere.

The script started as a bedtime story

From left: Thora Birch as Dani Dennison, Vinessa Shaw as Allison and Omri Katz as Max Dennison in 1993’s ‘Hocus Pocus’.

Buena Vista/Courtesy Everett 

Producer and co-writer David Kirschner told the story to his daughters and made it into a film. 

“Halloween is a huge deal in our home, and it has been since our daughters were little,” Kirschner told Yahoo Entertainment in 2015. “It speaks to me in a way that becomes so emotional for me and always has.”

The creators went all out pitching the film to Disney

From left: Kathy Najimy as Mary Sanderson, Bette Midler as Winifred Sanderson and Sarah Jessica Parker as Sarah Sanderson in 1993’s ‘Hocus Pocus’.
Disney/Kobal/Shutterstock

At a D23 panel celebrating the film’s 20th anniversary in October 2013, Kirschner told the crowd that, to really sell the idea to Disney, they set the mood by having executives walk into a dark room with witches’ brooms, a vacuum cleaner hanging from the ceiling and 15 lbs. of candy corn.

It wouldn’t be possible for the movie to take place on Halloween 1993

Omri Katz as Max Dennison in 1993’s ‘Hocus Pocus’.
Disney

That’s because, in 1993, Halloween fell on a Sunday, which meant no school!

It’s one of Bette Midler’s favorite films

Bette Midler as Winifred Sanderson in 1993’s ‘Hocus Pocus’.

Snap/Shutterstock

In a 2013 interview on Katie Couric’s eponymous talk show, Midler told Couric: “I love it. We made it before the tidal wave of Halloween happened. Now it’s, like, huge. It’s huge — kids, grown-ups, everyone takes part in it. This movie was kind of like the beginning of the wave.”

And Bette Midler feels that way even if she doesn’t “watch it regularly”

From left: Kathy Najimy as Mary Sanderson, Bette Midler as Winifred Sanderson and Sarah Jessica Parker as Sarah Sanderson in 1993’s ‘Hocus Pocus’.

Disney

During her annual Hulaween charity event in 2018, Midler told PEOPLE that she hadn’t seen the film until its 25th anniversary: “I watched it the other night, the night before the [25th] anniversary, because I said, ‘You know what, I better look at this again.’ So I watched it, and I loved it! I loved it!”

“I thought it was so funny!” Midler added. “The first time I watched it I was only watching myself. But this time I saw everybody. And I tell ya, those girls in the back — they were going full blast! They were giving me a run for my money. The kids were great, everybody was great!”

Meanwhile, Sarah Jessica Parker doesn’t remember much about the movie

Sarah Jessica Parker as Sarah Sanderson in 1993’s ‘Hocus Pocus’.

Cinematic / Alamy Stock Photo

When Stephen Colbert asked if she had “any memories” of the film during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in 2018, Parker — who plays Sarah in the movie — admitted that only a few came to mind.

“I remember the filming of it; I just don’t remember what the movie is about as much,” she said. “Apparently … my character’s not very bright. But I fly and sing, and I think I like to kill children, I don’t know.”

One thing she couldn’t forget, though: She really loved flying.

Parker said she would sit on the rig in costume and read The New York Times while people “took their breaks or changed the camera.”

Sarah Jessica Parker is related to a real-life witch

Sarah Jessica Parker as Sarah Sanderson in 1993’s ‘Hocus Pocus’.
Alamy

Well, the actress is related to an alleged witch. In 2010, Parker appeared on the series Who Do You Think You Are? and discovered that she was (very distantly) related to Esther Elwell, an accused witch at the infamous Salem witch trials. Luckily, her case never made it to trial, as trying a person for witchcraft was abolished. Maybe this explains Parker’s love of flying.

The song Sarah Jessica Parker sings in the film, “Come, Little Children,” is by the same man who wrote “My Heart Will Go On”

Sarah Jessica Parker at the ‘Hocus Pocus 2’ world premiere at AMC Lincoln Square in New York City on Sept. 27, 2022.

Jamie McCarthy/Getty

Yes, we’re referring to the same theme song of the 1997 Oscar-winning film Titanic, performed by Céline Dion! Famed composer James Horner is behind the music and lyrics for both iconic songs.

That isn’t the only thing the film had in common with Titanic

Left: Leonardo DiCaprio at the screening of ‘What’s Eating Gilbert Grape’ on Dec. 12, 1993, at Paramount Theater in L.A.; Right: Omri Katz as Max Dennison in 1993’s ‘Hocus Pocus’.
Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty; Alamy

Leonardo DiCaprio auditioned for the role of Max, but he turned it down — and “more money than [he] ever dreamed of” — to be in 1993’s What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.

“I don’t know where the hell I got the nerve,” DiCaprio told Variety in 2014. “You live in an environment where you’re influenced by people telling you to make a lot of money and strike while the iron’s hot. But if there’s one thing I’m very proud of, it’s being a young man who was sticking to my guns.”

Sure, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape ended up being a critically acclaimed hit that catapulted DiCaprio into stardom, but, boy, do we wish we could’ve seen young Leo light the black flame candle.

Rosie O’Donnell turned down a role in the film, too

Left: Rosie O’Donnell at the ‘Russian Doll’ premiere at The Metrograph on Jan. 23, 2019, in N.Y.C.; Right: Kathy Najimy as Mary Sanderson in 1993’s ‘Hocus Pocus’.
Astrid Stawiarz/Getty; Disney/Kobal/Shutterstock

Rosie O’Donnell was asked to play Mary — which eventually went to Najimy — but turned down the role. Why?

“Because I didn’t want to play the fat, mean witch who eats and kills kids,” O’Donnell told The Hollywood Reporter in 2023. “Even though it was Bette Midler, who was like, my favorite, and Sarah Jessica Parker … I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t do a part where I would be mean to kids, and the joke was about the size. I just felt like I had to say no for that.”

As for her thoughts on Najimy’s portrayal of Mary, O’Donnell said, “I think Kathy’s fantastic in it. You know, she does that face. I don’t even know how she does it.”

Two separate actors played Thackery Binx

Left: Sean Murray as Thackery Binx in 1993’s ‘Hocus Pocus’; Right: Sean Murray at the Television Industry Advocacy Awards on Sept. 15, 2018, in L.A.
Buena Vista Pictures; MediaPunch/REX/Shutterstock

Sean Murray acted out the human version …

And voice actor Jason Marsden voiced him as a cat

Thackery Binx the cat, voiced by Jason Marsden in 1993’s ‘Hocus Pocus’.
Disney

Jason Marsden is also close friends with Omri Katz, who plays Max in the film. The two also shared the screen on the ’90s sci-fi kids series Eerie, Indiana.

Thackery Binx also appeared on a witchy ’90s sitcom

Melissa Joan Hart as Sabrina Spellman, with the animatronic black cat that plays Salem Saberhagen, on ‘Sabrina the Teenage Witch’.

Randy Holmes/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty 

If the immortal black cat in Hocus Pocus looks eerily familiar, it’s because the same animatronic feline was used on Sabrina the Teenage Witch. As Screen Rant reported, Salem Saberhagen from the 1996 fantasy series and Thackery Binx from Hocus Pocus are actually the same.

Some internet detectives noticed the film shares an iconic fountain …

Left: The fountain shown during the opening credits of ‘Friends,’ located in Burbank, Calif., on Warner Brothers’ Ranch; Right: The same fountain as shown in 1993’s ‘Hocus Pocus’.

NBC, Disney

… with none other than the long-running hit sitcom Friends.

In 2019, the online community figured out the famous fountain from Friends’ opening credits appears in Hocus Pocus.

Hocus Pocus also shares a house with American Beauty

Omri Katz as Max Dennison and Thackery Binx the cat, voiced by Jason Marsden, in a scene from 1993’s ‘Hocus Pocus’.
Disney

According to Screen Rant, the house can be seen after the children escape the witches (who tried to lock them in a kiln)! Funnily enough, actress Thora Birch is in both films.

She played Dani in the 1993 film and returned to the neighborhood in the 1999 dramedy American Beauty. The exterior was also used in 1989’s National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.

Garry Marshall and Penny Marshall play a disgruntled husband and wife in the movie, but they’re really brother and sister

Penny Marshall as Medusa Lady and Garry Marshall as Master Devil in 1993’s ‘Hocus Pocus’.
Buena Vista Pictures

It’d be creepy if they weren’t so funny.

Hocus Pocus was the first Disney film to use the word “virgin”

Omri Katz as Max Dennison in 1993’s ‘Hocus Pocus’.
Disney

If the number of times the characters say the word virgin feels like too many for a Disney film, it’s because it is, per the Logan County Public Library.

Real moths fly out of Billy Butcherson’s mouth

From left: Doug Jones as William ‘Billy’ Butcherson and Omri Katz as Max Dennison in 1993’s ‘Hocus Pocus’.
Disney

No, really. They’re real! Tony Gardner, the man behind the film’s special effects makeup, told Bloody Disgusting in 2018 that they built “a rig inside [actor Doug Jones’] mouth to house some moths and dust for him to cough up on command.”

Hocus Pocus 3 is really happening

From left: Kathy Najimy as Mary Sanderson, Bette Midler as Winifred Sanderson and Sarah Jessica Parker as Sarah Sanderson in 2022’s ‘Hocus Pocus 2’.

Matt Kennedy/Disney

Fans of the familial witch trio will be thrilled to know Winifred, Mary and Sarah will reappear in an upcoming third film, which Disney confirmed in 2023.

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Source: HIS Education