Looking at the sheer level of talent involved, it’s incredible that The Witches has already been lost to the sands of time and completely forgotten about by almost everybody, despite the fact the Roald Dahl adaptation and remake of the beloved 1990 original was only released less than ten months ago.
The movie was directed by Academy Award winning Forrest Gump and Back to the Future legend Robert Zemckis, co-written and produced by two-time Academy Award winner Guillermo del Toro, while four-time Academy Award nominee Alfonso Cuaron was another one of the producers.
In front of the camera, you had Academy Award winner Anne Hathaway in the lead role, with support coming from Academy Award winner Octavia Spencer and two-time Golden Globe winner Stanley Tucci, as well as narration from three-time Grammy and four-time Emmy winner Chris Rock. In short, The Witches was stacked.
However, after being pulled from the theatrical scheduled by the effects of the pandemic and dumped onto HBO Max with little fanfare, the only headlines the movie grabbed were of the negative variety. Limb difference advocates took exception to the portrayal of the titular coven, forcing Hathaway and studio Warner Bros. to offer their apologies for any offense caused by the depictions of the witches from The Witches.
That’s really the only memorable thing about a film that flew under the cultural radar and wound up with a middling Rotten Tomatoes score of 48%, and an even lower audience rating of 33%. Despite the principal cast and key creatives boasting nine Oscars between them, The Witches‘ only shot at awards season glory was Hathaway’s Razzie nod for Worst Actress, but it’s rebounded to currently find itself as the third-most watched title on HBO Max.