Get the midnight margaritas ready.
Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman are in talks to return for a sequel to the 1998 classic Practical Magic.
Akiva Goldsman, one of the writers behind the original, will pen the screenplay. Plot details are not yet known. Bullock and Kidman are expected to produce alongside Denise Di Novi, who produced the original.
Practical Magic starred Kidman and Bullock as two orphaned sisters who come from a long line of witches. Raised by their eccentric aunts in a prejudiced Massachusetts town, they had to contend with a curse that kept them from never finding love.
At the time of release, the movie received generally negative reviews and failed to make a mark at the box office, but it has achieved cult status among audiences. Since the film’s release, Kidman and Bullock have also become the two biggest stars in Hollywood with awards recognition and box office acclaim.
This isn’t the first time Warners has tried to expand the Practical Magic universe. A prequel series, Rules of Magic, was in the works at HBO Max from Melissa Rosenberg and was described as an epic, generational family drama that is set in 1960s New York City. It would have revolved around three troubled siblings — Franny, Jet and Vincent Owens — who wrestle with “abnormalities” that have kept them isolated.
Bullock was last in theaters with Paramount adventure rom-com The Lost City, grossing over $100 million at the domestic box office. Kidman was most recently onscreen in Amazon series Expats and the Paramount series Lioness from Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan.
The Oscar winner confirmed the news in an interview with PEOPLE on Thursday, telling the outlet she and Bullock will return to their roles as sister witches Gillian and Sally Owens, respectively. “Yes I will be in it. And Sandy will be in it. And that’s that,” she said. “There’s a lot more to tell which is why we go, ‘OK, this is kind of interesting now to be able to do this.'”
Kidman added, “[We] found a way in.”
Warner Bros. first announce that a sequel to the 1998 witchy film was in the works earlier this week, and Entertainment Weekly confirmed that Kidman and Bullock were in talks to return to their roles, as well as produce alongside the original’s producer Denise Di Novi.
The sequel film is based on a screenplay by Akiva Goldsman, who co-wrote the screenplay for the first Practical Magic with Robin Swicord and Adam Brooks, based on the novel of the same name by author Alice Hoffman. The beloved film followed sister witches Sally and Gillian, who were raised by their eccentric aunts (played by Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest) after their parents died. They faced ages-old prejudices and one resurrection gone wrong, all while trying to find happiness in the face of a family curse that keeps killing their lovers.
Plot details about the sequel are being kept under wraps for now, but there is plenty of material to potentially pull from. In addition to the original 1995 novel, there are three other books in the Practical Magicseries: prequels The Rules of Magic (2017) and Magic Lessons (2020), and sequel The Book of Magic (2021).
Additionally, in 2019, HBO Max (since rebranded to Max) ordered a 1960s-set pilot for a Practical Magic prequel series focusing on the aunts, Franny and Jet. However, that project ultimately never materialized.
In addition to Kidman, Bullock, Channing, and Wiest, the original film also starred Evan Rachel Wood, Aidan Quinn, and Goran Višnji?. Further casting for the sequel has not yet been announced.
Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman will also executive produce the sequel as well.
