After a viciously chilly winter and a heat-filled summer, the time for autumn has finally arrived. As a crisp fall chill breezes in, it’s necessary to declare the official arrival of the spooky season — and, of course, what would the spooky season be without Bette Midler herself ushering us in?
One could certainly argue that the spooky season simply isn’t solemnized until the Queen of Halloween herself reminds the entire spooky community just who the hell she is. But for those that might have forgotten, Midler’s infamous portrayal of Winifred Sanderson in the ever-influential flick Hocus Pocus remains a staple in Halloween cinema. In fact, the movie is so culturally significant that it’s leading the charge for the Freeform network and premiering tonight for the first night of the channel’s “31 Nights of Halloween” lineup.
Naturally, Midler couldn’t resist hogging the spotlight momentarily to officially ring in the Halloween season with a bang — and a broom, perhaps. Taking to X, Midler gleefully wrote “Sisssstaaaaahs!” for her 2 million followers to see alongside an aesthetically-pleasing clip of Winifred Sanderson overlooking her Book of Spells.
The hype and influence surrounding the OG Hocus Pocus has long been established, which Midler herself has unsurprisingly capitalized on, and rightfully so when you consider how popular the movie becomes every year. In fact, Midler has addressed the phenomenon in various interviews, noting how the 1993 classic skyrockets in ratings each Halloween season.
But while Midler creating a cauldron of further hype for the Kenny Ortega-directed project is to be expected in the spooky months, die-hards such as myself (and other Halloween fanatics, of course) experienced a brief sensation of exhilaration in the hopes that Midler sharing this particular post might possibly be a hint at the potential for a Hocus Pocus broadway musical.
Now, envisioning an entire Broadway stage performance surrounding the film might seem like a far-fetched flash in the pan, but let’s be honest, who wouldn’t go absolutely berzerk at the idea of watching Bette Midler perform “I Put a Spell on You” live on the Broadway stage? Even if she were involved in the theater shows for only just one year, the thought alone is almost too much for our minds to handle.
Either way, the time for the ever-engaging witchy classic playing on the majority of movie channels all throughout the month is finally here, and we definitely aren’t complaining in the slightest. As for the less-than-favorable Hocus Pocus 2, well, it’ll certainly be interesting to see how the sequel drives the ratings this spooky season.