Hocus Pocus Is Back on Top of Disney+ as Halloween Fans Return to the Sanderson Sisters
Disney fans are streaming Hocus Pocus again, pushing the 1993 Halloween favorite to No. 1 on Disney+ this spooky season.
For a lot of Disney and Halloween fans, spooky season is not complete without a return trip to Salem. That annual ritual is showing up on the charts again, with Hocus Pocus now sitting as the No. 1 movie on Disney+ according to FlixPatrol.
The latest shift is simple: Kenny Ortega's 1993 film Hocus Pocus has climbed to the top of Disney's streaming movie chart. The 96 minute favorite, led by Sarah Jessica Parker, Bette Midler, and Kathy Najimy as the Sanderson Sisters, is once again proving that its hold on viewers has not faded 33 years after release.
That matters most to Disney+ subscribers looking for a seasonal rewatch, and to the fans who have helped turn the movie into a yearly Halloween staple. Hocus Pocus has long occupied a different lane from all-out horror, offering a lighter, nostalgic kind of October viewing. The story follows Max, played by Omri Katz, and his younger sister Dani, played by Thora Birch, after they move to Salem. Max accidentally brings back a trio of witches who were executed in the 17th century, leaving him, Dani, Allison, played by Vinessa Shaw, and the cat Thackery Binx to try to stop them.
Its current Disney+ ranking is the newest sign of how thoroughly the film has outgrown its original theatrical performance. Hocus Pocus disappointed at the box office when it first arrived, a release that came in July rather than during Halloween season. Over time, though, it built a strong following and became a cult favorite, especially for viewers who grew up in the 1990s.
The pattern has shown up beyond streaming too. In 2023, the movie returned to the box office top 10 as part of its 30th anniversary run. On Disney+ last year, both Hocus Pocus and its direct-to-streaming follow-up, Hocus Pocus 2, also landed in the platform's top 10 in the lead-up to Halloween.
For fans, the immediate update is that the original film is the one to beat on Disney+ right now. There is also more Sanderson Sisters material on the horizon, with Disney developing Hocus Pocus 3, a sequel that would make the series a trilogy.
