You know, it’s amazing that Hollywood instantly knows whether it has a hit on its hands or not. The box office does not lie, and the critics….well they say it like they see it. And after that everybody either starts talking about a sequel or moves on to whatever comes next. But sometimes along comes a movie that simply refuses to accept the verdict. Practical Magic was one of those movies.
When the movie arrived in 1998, Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman were already major stars. You would think that alone would have been enough to make this movie an instant hit. Never mind the addition of witches, romance, murder, sisterhood, a family curse and enough tequila to make midnight margaritas seem like a perfectly reasonable life choice. But it didn’t work out that way. We all know it takes a lot to impress critics, and Practical Magic… lacked in that department. Even today, the original sits at 30% on Rotten Tomatoes, while its domestic theatrical run brought in around $46.8 million. Let’s just say it definitely wasn’t the kind of reception that had studio executives immediately clearing space on the release calendar for Practical Magic 2. But here we are.
Almost three decades later, Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman walked the red carpet together in London on Wednesday night for the European premiere of Practical Magic 2. Looks like the audience had other plans for this movie. Over the years, Practical Magic quietly transformed itself into a cult classic. People discovered it at home and began watching it again. They introduced it to their daughters, sisters and friends. Midnight margaritas became instantly recognisable to fans, and Sally and Gillian Owens somehow survived long after Hollywood’s original box-office calculations said they probably shouldn’t have. And that is what makes Wednesday night’s premiere so interesting. This goes beyond Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman promoting another sequel.
This is proof that sometimes audiences decide which movies survive.
Bullock and Kidman were joined at London’s Odeon Luxe Leicester Square by returning stars Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest, who once again play the wonderfully eccentric Aunts Frances and Jet. Alongside them stood Joey King and Maisie Williams, who play Sally’s now-grown daughters Kylie and Antonia. That in itself is bloody amazing. Just think about it. The original women are still there, but now another generation of Owens women is standing beside them. The sequel moves the story forward roughly 25 years and follows the Owens women as they once again confront the curse that has haunted their family. Bullock and Kidman haven’t simply returned to star either. They’re both producers, while Susanne Bier directs.
Kidman also made an interesting point at the premiere. If somebody had told her and Bullock 28 years ago that women would still be allowed to lead a major studio movie at this stage of their careers, she doesn’t think they would have believed them. Now that’s worth thinking about. Hollywood has spent decades convincing actresses that their leading-lady expiry date arrives considerably earlier than it does for men. Yet here are Bullock at 62 and Kidman at 59, still front and centre in a major Warner Bros. release while bringing another generation with them. Kidman spoke about passing the baton to the younger actresses, while Bullock explained that the sequel needed to preserve what made the first movie special: the humour, darkness, tragedy and particularly the love between these women. And maybe that’s why Practical Magic survived in the first place.
The witchcraft was fun. The romance helped. And I don’t think anyone would complain if someone suddenly announced midnight margaritas. But beyond all of that is a story about women who refuse to give up on each other. When everything went completely sideways, which happened rather frequently in that movie, the Owens women turned to each other. And that is what audiences connected with. The pure humanity of it all. Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest credited the fans with making the sequel possible, with Wiest pointing specifically to the story’s celebration of women supporting women and coming together as sisters. Now there’s something the opening-weekend numbers couldn’t measure in 1998. A movie’s theatrical run used to feel like its final examination. Make enough money and Hollywood called you a success. Fail to perform and you disappeared into the catalogue. But audiences don’t always cooperate.
Some movies need time. The Shawshank Redemption struggled theatrically before becoming enormously beloved. Hocus Pocus wasn’t a major box-office success in 1993 before eventually becoming a Halloween institution. The Rocky Horror Picture Show initially struggled before midnight screenings helped transform it into one of cinema’s most famous cult movies. And Practical Magic found its people too. That’s what I love about cult movies. Critics and box-office analysts may get the first vote, but audiences get the last one. If enough people keep watching a movie, talking about it and introducing it to somebody else, eventually Hollywood notices. Nearly 30 years later, Hollywood has certainly noticed this one.
There’s also another lovely layer to the reunion. Practical Magic 2 marks Bullock’s return to acting after stepping away from movies for four years. Seeing her alongside Kidman, Channing and Wiest therefore feels considerably bigger than the usual promotional red carpet. These women aren’t simply recreating something audiences loved in 1998. They’re returning to something audiences learned to love after 1998. Whether Practical Magic 2 can recreate that mixture of warmth, darkness, romance and sisterhood remains to be seen. Nostalgia alone doesn’t guarantee a good sequel, and we’ve certainly learned that lesson enough times. But perhaps this sequel has already proved something simply by existing.
Hollywood looked at Practical Magic in 1998 and saw a movie that hadn’t quite delivered what it wanted. Audiences looked at it for the next 28 years and saw something worth keeping. Now Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman are walking another red carpet together, Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest are back and another generation of Owens women has arrived. Not bad for a movie Hollywood could easily have forgotten. Maybe some movies don’t fail.
Sometimes they just take a little longer to find their magic.
