Practical Magic 2
Don't break my witchy heart.
Ah Practical Magic 2, it makes me excited and makes me cringe.
On paper, I should REALLY want Practical Magic 2. My entire business revolves around witchcraft, and I have designed quite a collection inspired by the film. Like, a lot. I visit the filming locations every year with my Mom in Washington state. I have the iconic house tattooed on my entire upper left thigh. The hype of a sequel would be good for business. And yet I remain entirely and wholeheartedly, sus.
And it’s kinda my fault.
When I started Lady Moon Co. in 2017, there was little (if any at all) Practical Magic merch or hype online. The internet witch craze was just beginning to bloom, and I decided to make some stuff based on my favorite movie, cause I wanted it to exist. I’m being very literal when I say I, along with a handful of other shops, have a hand in the Prac Mag resurgence. There is a clear correlation. All of us who hyped Practical Magic to the masses are to blame. I love that I can share my undying Prac Mag obsession with everyone, but I wish it would stay the one perfect movie it is. I’m a pretty pragmatic person when it comes to the industry and I understand how these things work behind the scenes, so why am I so fucking emo about it?
Now, this is a movie that changed my life. It came out in 1998 and I was 12. Two hot, normal babes with a killer house by the ocean? And they do magic? Sign me the fuck up. I saw real people practicing magic on screen for the first time. It’s 26% on rotten tomatoes is a bunch of bologna. This movie slaps hard.
In Practical Magic, the witches are the protagonists. This was rare in 1998. It’s not a caricature of the lifestyle, and while still being fantastical- the characters are entirely relatable people. They don’t fit into the normal “witch” tropes. They aren’t in a coven, they don’t have big ugly warts and cackles and they don’t put on the witch hats until the very end. It’s the most realistic portrayal of “modern witchcraft” in film to this day. It doesn’t hurt that the entire movie is gorgeous. The score, the sets, THAT HOUSE. The Stevie Nicks of it all just vibes. The script even directly addresses misconceptions about magical people.
At an extremely pivotal time in my magic and womanhood, it reiterated to me that I was enough, I was powerful, and being different was rad.
How will the new film speak to us now? Will the sequel address the current popularity of witchcraft? Everyone is a witch. Everyone is selling something holistic. Like the beginning of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, where Lydia Deetz has her own paranormal ghost show- will Verbena have become the Dolls Kill of New England?
What gives me hope is that the brilliant original creatives who made the first film are still around to make another great one. Its source material is Alice Hoffman’s “The Rules Of Magic”, so the story is there. Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman have signed on. Akiva Goldsman, who co-wrote the original, is back to write the new movie. Everyone will likely want to continue in the spirit of the original. I just hope the creatives are allowed to do what they do best.
For better or worse- it’s not 1998 anymore, and the movie industry is sterile and predictable. The studios don’t like to take risks, and when it comes to someone digging up and retouching a precious memory- I don’t know that I do either. But it is happening! So let’s poison an abusive boyfriend, eat a poundcake in under a minute, and cast a spell in hopes we get something as meaningful and inspiring as the first.
I felt this way about Beetlejuice 2, and I might be the only one who doesn’t love it as much as the first. I’m just so obsessed with and attached to the original. Like you mentioned, I’m hoping the writers stick to the script on this one and capture all the vibes the first movie had.
I agree with you completely here! I think whatever happens with the sequel, a good number of us will be whimsigoth'd up and aunts the new generation of PM witches ✨