As Halloween approaches once again, everyone’s favorite witches are ready to make a comeback to the big screen. Hocus Pocus Two was officially confirmed at the 2020 Disney Investor Day, followed by Instagram posts from Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy confirming that they would be reprising their roles as Winifred, Sarah and Mary Sanderson. The original Hocus Pocus came out on July 16, 1993. As the 29th anniversary of the movie approaches, the sequel is set to release in Fall 2022 exclusively on Disney+.
All we know of the plot so far is that a girl, supposedly named Becca, summons the three witches back to modern-day Salem with a candle she finds in an antique shop. She has to figure out how to stop the witches from killing the children of Salem. While the first movie was filmed on location in Salem, Massachusetts and on Hollywood sound stages, filming for Hocus Pocus Two is set to be in multiple cities around Rhode Island including Providence, Newport and Lincoln.
This shift of location may have occurred because of the state film tax credits, which is an incentive program managed state by state to encourage film production in these locations. Rhode Island has also received multiple incentives for allowing Disney to film there—a promised $70,000 in rent for the Cranston State Armory, $25,000 for the use of Lincoln Park, maintenance and restorations on local buildings, as well as job opportunities for locals.
In preparation for filming, Disney has begun to slowly transform the landscape by building a 1670’s style village in a blocked-off area of Lincoln Park. It has been confirmed that there are tentative plans for the production team to burn this village down, although it may be altered to do so digitally using CGI and special effects. Additionally, the Cranston State Armory in Providence is being renovated to fit the numerous sound stages needed for filming.
While productions teams have been busy building villages and renovating buildings, there have been reports of set design teams scouring East Coast antique shops for set pieces. One of these antique shops is New Bedford Antiques at the Cove. The shop owners have reported that the team bought numerous antique New England-style pieces including dark lamps, apothecary jars and Halloween decorations.
Throughout the production of Hocus Pocus Two, the crew is making sure to take precautions for COVID-19 by scheduling regular Covid tests for everyone involved as well as proof of vaccination. This has also created numerous job opportunities for the citizens of Rhode Island, as they are hiring trained medical staff to collect the expected 2,000+ COVID-19 tests every week. The production team is also seeking extras to appear in the movie. They are mostly seeking dancers, children and men with long hair, and do not cover any lodging or travel expenses for those that are cast.
We will be able to know more details, such as the sets and cast members, as filming begins in mid-October. So far it has not been confirmed nor denied if Omri Katz and Thora Birch will be reprising their roles as Max and Dani Dennison. Despite this, a lot of people are eagerly waiting for the sequel of the beloved Halloween classic to make its way to the screen by Halloween of 2022.
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