Witches Run Amok

The oral history of Disney‘s Hocus Pocus, timed for the film‘s thirtieth anniversary In July 1993, Disney’s Hocus Pocus, starring Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy, did not immediately find success, with box office numbers falling far below even the now largely forgotten Dennis the Menace. Yet somehow the Halloween movie released in the middle of the summer to little fanfare has become an enduring and widely loved classic. Nearly three decades after the film’s initial release, it’s a yearly holiday viewing tradition in households around the world. Beyond the movie itself, the Sanderson sisters have inspired Halloween costumes, Carvel ice cream shakes, scented candles, a makeup collection, drinks on Starbucks’ secret menu, a Walt Disney World holiday show, and numerous drag brunches across the United States. Hocus Pocus has become a not-so-scary rite of passage for kids and their parents, many of whom grew up watching the film about the resurrected witchy trio with their own parents. It’s a movie that has few if any comparisons; it manages to span a generational divide, uniting boomers and zoomers in their nostalgic love for the boundary-pushing supernatural comedy that in some ways seemed a little too risqué for the kids it was originally intended for. So how did a movie that didn‘t catch an initial spark end up casting such a spell on mainstream culture? Witches Run Amok: The Oral History of Disney‘s Hocus Pocus will answer that question and more, using interviews from the cast and creative team behind the heartwarming Halloween staple. The book is a love letter to Hocus Pocus‘s millions of devoted fans and a fascinating read for anyone who wants to understand how the Disney movie became a pop culture phenomenon.