Hocus Pocus is now a Disney classic and a must-watch during spooky season, but the studio almost tanked the movie with one terrible decision. Although Disney is best known for its animated content and family-friendly stories, it has covered a variety of movies over the years. Disney’s animated movies seem to follow a specific formula, but it has had more freedom with its live-action projects.

While it might seem strange for a studio that has built its brand around being family-friendly, Disney has a variety of movies for the Halloween season in its catalog. Some of these are aimed at a mature audience, but many others are for children and have family-friendly “spooky” stories, as is the case for Hocus Pocus.

Nowadays, Hocus Pocus is a Disney Halloween classic, but it took a while to get to that position. Hocus Pocus had a rough start, and it was all due to one key decision made by Disney, which could have had even worse results.

Disney Released Hocus Pocus, The Defining Movie Of Halloween, In Mid-July

Hocus Pocus is a fantasy comedy movie directed by Kenny Ortega from a script by Mick Garris and Neil Cuthbert, and a story by Garris and David Kirschner. Hocus Pocus first takes viewers back to October 31, 1693, in Salem, Mᴀssachusetts. There, young boy Thackery Binx finds out that his younger sister, Emily, has been kidnapped by the town’s witches.

These are Winifred (Bette Midler), Mary (Kathy Najimy), and Sarah Sanderson (Sarah Jessica Parker), who take the life force of children to keep themselves young. Binx is unable to save Emily, but the Sanderson sisters punish him for interfering and turn him into an immortal black cat. However, the sisters are arrested and condemned to death by hanging.

Right before being hanged, Winnie casts a spell that will resurrect them whenever a virgin lights the Black-Flame Candle in their cottage on a day when the full moon and Halloween coincide. Three centuries later, on Halloween night, 1993, Max Dennison (Omri Katz) is the virgin who inadvertently brings them back.

As the Sandersons adapt to the modern world, they plan to take the life force of all the children in Salem before the sun rises or they will turn to dust. Max, his sister Dani (Thora Birch), and his crush Allison (Vinessa Shaw), along with Binx, rush to save the town and get rid of the witches.

Hocus Pocus is, undoubtedly, a Halloween movie, and yet, Disney chose to release it mid-July, arriving in theaters on July 16, 1993. This move was made in order to take advantage of kids being off school, and, quite possibly, to avoid compeтιтion with The Nightmare Before Christmas, which was released in late October.

Hocus Pocus’ Summer Release Backfired

Nowadays, it’s obvious that Hocus Pocus should have been released in October despite facing strong compeтιтion, even more so as the movie didn’t perform well with critics and at the box office. At the time of writing, Hocus Pocus holds a 41% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, despite reviews being more positive over the years.

Critics have called out Hocus Pocus’ messy writing, lazy comedy, uneven story and tone, and how it doesn’t offer anything new. Unsurprisingly, poor critical reception also translated into poor box office numbers. Hocus Pocus’ box office increased thanks to a re-release in October 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it’s still an underwhelming result.

With its combined numbers from its initial release and the 2020 re-release, Hocus Pocus made $53.2 million at the box office, against a budget of $28 million, meaning it couldn’t break even. Of course, Hocus Pocus’ summer release was a key factor, as it made it harder for it to find its right audience, and it had some strong compeтιтion.

Hocus Pocus was released on the same day as Free Willy, a family drama directed by Simon Wincer. Unlike the story of the Sanderson Sisters, Free Willy was a critical and commercial success, grossing $153.7 million against a $20 million budget, and it holds a 71% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Despite re-releasing during the pandemic, Hocus Pocus faced some big compeтιтion thanks to Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, but it managed to finish second, right behind Nolan’s movie. Hocus Pocus had the worst time in both its release and re-release, but if it had done the first one correctly, it might not have had to do the latter.

Surely, The Nightmare Before Christmas was a huge compeтιтor, and it was a huge box office and critical success, but Hocus Pocus might still have succeeded a bit more had it been released in October. These are two very different family-friendly spooky movies, and Hocus Pocus could have gained more attention had it been released during the best time of the year for this type of movie.

How Hocus Pocus Turned Into A Halloween Tradition

Disney almost sabotaged Hocus Pocus by releasing it at the wrong season, but it knew how to make up for it. If Hocus Pocus is now a Halloween classic and a must-watch tradition, it’s all thanks to the Mouse House giving it the exposure and space it has always deserved, but now on TV.

Thanks to annual airings on Disney Channel and what was formerly known as ABC Family, Fox Family, and The Family Channel throughout October, Hocus Pocus was finally able to find its audience. This led to a significant increase in home media sales every year, and Hocus Pocus has remained popular during October ever since.

Hocus Pocus and the Sanderson Sisters are now part of pop culture, too, adding to their legacy and place as a Halloween tradition. Nowadays, Hocus Pocus is available to stream on Disney+, along with its sequel, Hocus Pocus 2, released on the platform in 2022. Although it’s not at the level of the original movie, the sequel adds to the backstory of the Sanderson Sisters.

It’s still too early to say if Hocus Pocus 2 will have the same impact as the first movie and become a Halloween tradition, too, but luckily, both movies are now more accessible to the audience thanks to Disney+. The future of Hocus Pocus could have been very different had it been released in October, and the sequel could have happened sooner or not at all.