Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman grateful to bring Practical Magic back for passionate fan base

LOS ANGELES – When Hollywood stars Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman made Practical Magic almost 30 years ago, they were convinced they had a hit on their hands.

Instead, the 1998 fantasy film – which cast them as Sally and Gillian Owens, respectively, two witch sisters fighting a family curse that kills any man they love – underperformed at the box office.

But despite being panned – critics took issue with its many tonal shifts, from cosy romantic comedy to domestic abuse drama and intense horror – it later found a second life on streaming platforms and became a cult hit.

In the decades that followed, successive waves of fans have embraced the beloved film’s “cottagecore” and “whimsigoth” aesthetic, from the Owens sisters’ Victorian-era house to their flowing, bohemian dresses, as well as its romanticisation of domesticity and sisterhood.

Practical Magic 2, opening in Singapore cinemas on Sept 10, is a direct result of that passionate fan base clamouring for a sequel.

“The din got very loud on social media,” says American actress Bullock, 62, at the Aug 31 Los Angeles premiere.

“And when it’s that loud and there’s so much desire for it and it’s a fun movie, it feels good,” says Australian actress Kidman, 59, who headlined the movie musical Moulin Rouge! (2001) and won a Best Actress Oscar for period drama The Hours (2002).

“So we were very true to the nostalgia of it,” adds Bullock, who starred in science-fiction thriller Gravity (2013) and took home a Best Actress Oscar for sports drama The Blind Side (2009).

Responding to fans’ repeated pleas, American novelist Alice Hoffman – whose 1995 novel was the source material for the first movie – finally wrote a follow-up in 2021, The Book Of Magic.

That became the basis for the second film, which sees Kidman and Bullock reprising their roles, and Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest returning as their characters’ eccentric aunts.

It is directed by award-winning Danish film-maker Susanne Bier, who previously worked with Bullock in post-apocalyptic horror film Bird Box (2018) and with Kidman in psychological thriller series The Undoing (2020) and mystery crime drama The Perfect Couple (2024).

Joey King (The Kissing Booth trilogy, 2018 to 2021) and Maisie Williams (Game Of Thrones, 2011 to 2019) join the cast as Sally’s grown daughters, and when dark family secrets emerge, the matriarchy must come together to try to break the curse once and for all.

As much as fans love the original film now, Bullock admits that the initial reception took her and Kidman by surprise.

“We thought, ‘This is going to be such an amazing film. People are going to love it’,” Bullock recalls.

“And then it got quiet. They were like, ‘How many women in a film do you need? How many tones do you need? What kind of film is this?’”

But she is glad they are getting a second chance.

“We’ve been lucky – we get to bring it back again when the first time, it stumbled. But did it really stumble? Maybe it needed to marinate a little bit,” she says.

When she gets up to introduce the movie – which she and Kidman also co-produced – at the premiere, Bullock hints there were still some battles to get it across the finish line.

“There are so many faces in here that have been with us the whole way for so long, but I would like to point out one specific rabid pitbull at Warner Bros. whose name is Pamela Abdy,” she says, referring to the movie studio’s co-chair and a champion of the Practical Magic films. “It is because of her that we didn’t arrive on the chopping block – and we were able to get to this place. And for all the generations who have loved this movie and brought us here, thank you.”

King, who plays Sally’s daughter Kylie, argues that some of the criticisms of the genre-bending original are actually strengths.

“When the first movie came out, people were, like, ‘What’s going on? It’s this tone, it’s that tone, it’s horror, it’s a rom-com.’ But life is all those things, and I think the movie balanced all those tones in the most fun way,” says the 27-year-old American actress, who played Kidman’s character’s daughter in the romantic comedy A Family Affair (2024).

“It showcased sisterhood in the best light, and I think we underestimate how much people love watching the gals get together – that’s part of what makes Practical Magic so special.”