I mean releasing this type of movie in the summer?? what were they thinking back then lol..i can see why it bombed though but at least had a huge cult following despite getting trashed by critics.
sure some events don't make sense but it's one of the rarest halloween movies that's non-horror to enjoy 🐼
two.
While it is now regarded as a Halloween family classic, "Hocus Pocus" bombed at the box office in 1993. On opening weekend, the film only brought in about $8 million against a $28 million budget and finished fourth. Critics also bashed the film - which stars Bette Midler, Kathy Najimi and Sarah Jessica Parker as a trio of witches accidentally brought back to life by a teenager - which probably didn't help.
But despite "Hocus Pocus" later becoming a hit on VHS and through repeated TV airings, I can't help but feel like Disney might be partially responsible for the film's theatrical failure. Why would they release a Halloween movie in the middle of summer instead of holding for October? Of course, last time I watched "Hocus Pocus" was a Christmastime screening on one of Disney's cable channels, so I guess timing still isn't their strongest suit.
Although it's not exactly a Halloween movie (the final part does take place at a Halloween party though) I remember Casper coming out in May or June and it was a hit.
shareIt was released during the summer because Disney had another Halloween-themed movie that year, "The Nightmare Before Christmas". They didn't want the two movies competing against each other, so they released Hocus Pocus during the summer and Nightmare in October.
shareActually, at the time, Disney refused to put their name on Nightmare Before Christmas. So they released it under Touchstone Pictures. It stayed that way for years. The first DVD they released didn't have Disney's name on it either. It wasn't til the time Bluray became popular that Disney finally put their name on it.
shareYeah that's surprising. Why not October instead?
shareThe most popular theory is that Disney's big Halloween release in 1993 was going to be The Nightmare Before Christmas. And they didn't want to cannibalize themselves by having two Halloween themed movies of theirs out at the same time.
Here's some other theories for why Hocus Pocus may have bombed during its initial release:
https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/xk4gfh/comment/ipbwdpc/share
Kenny Ortega was only well known as a choreographer at the time, having come off of the absolute bomb of Newsies. Seriously, the first weekend was so dire for that movie--Disney straight pulled it. Yet somehow kept him on-board for Hocus Pocus.
The lead trio may have been known to kids, vaguely, but their fanbase was largely too old for the movie (and their kids, if they existed in the matter of the ones not named Bette Midler) would be too young.
Zero star power for the protagonists. Omri Katz was completely unknown unless you watched Eerie, Indiana. Or Dallas, which, lol, you wouldn't have if you were in the target demo for this. Same issue with Thora Birch. They both had some credibility in the way of acting, but zero connection to kids. The movie tried to cast Leo, but that fell through.
Other than Bette Midler, I don't think that there were any "names" in Hocus Pocus at the time.
I don't know exactly how big of a star Sarah Jessica Parker was in 1993. I mean, this was well before Sex and the City. At the time, I can't help but wonder if she was still mostly known for Square Pegs (which like Hocus Pocus, developed a huge cult following after its initial failure).
Kathy Najimy was recently in Sister Act, which was a huge box office hit (ironically, Sister Act was originally convinced to be a Bette Midler vehicle), but she always struck me as being more of a character actress than a lead. King of the Hill (an animated show), is probably her most predominate acting role when you really think about it.