Roping in an abundance of A-list talent and then simply expecting excellence to be the end result doesn’t often go according to plan, but the enduring reputation The Witches of Eastwick holds as a stone-cold cult classic just goes to show that it’s more than capable of working under the right circumstances.
To be fair, expectations were pretty high to begin with when you had Mad Max architect George Miller adapting the popular novel by author John Updike, never mind an ensemble cast led by Jack Nicholson, Susan Sarandon, Cher, and Michelle Pfeiffer. Strangely, though, audiences weren’t entirely receptive to the dark fantasy comedy’s unique charms at the time.
$63 million was a decent enough haul at the box office, but it wasn’t exactly in line with the assemblage of top talent on display. Even now, The Witches of Eastwick only holds contemporary Rotten Tomatoes scores of 66 and 62 percent from critics and audiences, a lot lower than you’d expect from a cult classic that’s endured for 35 years as an unabashed favorite.
The love continues to this day, with the hard-edged fantasy having ascended onto the Top 10 worldwide rankings on streaming service Chili, as per FlixPatrol. About as unhinged as you’d expect from Miller luxuriating in his first proper Hollywood-sized budget, Nicholson’s mysterious stranger appears out of nowhere and begins putting the moves on the three leading ladies.
However, the closer they get to the charming enigma, the more they begin to grow concerned about both their increasing supernatural abilities and his true intentions, with the third act in particular going for broke in entertainingly off-the-wall fashion.
