First released in 1993, with Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy and Sarah Jessica Parker, Hocus Pocus has become a beloved Halloween classic and has cemented itself in pop culture history.

Since the premiere of the original film, Midler, Najimy and Parker have once again joined forces to bring back the Sanderson sisters in the highly anticipated Disney+ sequel. Hocus pocus 2in 2022.

Even if you look at it religiously another wonderful morning During the spooky season, there’s a lot of insider information bubbling under the, well, cauldron, for a refresher. Here are 22 things you might not have known about the cult classic (that aren’t just a bunch of hocus pocus).

The film was not released during Halloween

Despite being a fan favorite every October, Hocus Pocus was actually released months before Halloween on July 16, 1993.

There was no call initially Hocus Pocus

During its early development, Hocus Pocus got the title Halloween houseper Entertainment weekly (via bloody disgusting). In fact, screenwriter Mick Garris envisioned the 1993 film as much darker than the beloved family-friendly film it is today.

It was originally a flop

According to Yahoo Entertainment, the film debuted in fourth place at the box office, earning just $39.5 million in its first theatrical run. Since then, however, the film has gained a cult following – even reaching No. 2 at the box office in 2020, nearly three decades after its premiere.

The script started out as a bedtime story

Producer and co-writer David Kirschner told the story to his daughters and turned it into a film.

“Halloween is a big deal in our house, and has been since our daughters were little,” Kirschner told Yahoo Entertainment in 2015. “It speaks to me in a way that becomes so emotional for me and always has been.”

The makers did everything they could to pitch the film to Disney

During a D23 panel celebrating the film’s 20th anniversary in October 2013, Kirschner told the audience that to really sell the idea to Disney, they set the mood by having executives walk into a dark room with witches’ brooms and a vacuum cleaner that hung on the wall. ceiling and 15 lbs. of candy corn.

It wouldn’t be possible for the movie to take place on Halloween 1993

That’s because Halloween fell on a Sunday in 1993, which meant no school!

It is one of Bette Midler’s favorite films

In a 2013 interview on Katie Couric’s talk show of the same name, Midler told Couric, “I think it’s great. We made it before the Halloween tidal wave happened. Now it’s huge. It’s huge – kids, adults, everyone’s in it . in it. This movie was a bit like the beginning of the wave.”

And Bette Midler thinks so, even if she doesn’t “watch it regularly.”

At her annual Hulaween charity event in 2018, Midler told PEOPLE that she hadn’t seen the film until the 25th anniversary: ​​”I watched it the other day, the night before the (25th) anniversary, because I said, ‘You know what , I better look at this again.’ So I watched it, and I loved it!”

“I thought it was so funny!” Midler added. “The first time I looked at it, I was just looking at myself. But this time I saw everyone. And I’m telling you, those girls in the back – they were going all out! They gave me my money’s worth. The kids were great, everyone was great!”

Meanwhile, Sarah Jessica Parker doesn’t remember much about the movie

When Stephen Colbert asked during an appearance if she had “any memories” of the film The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in 2018, Parker – who plays Sarah in the film – admitted that only a few came to mind.

“I remember shooting it; I just don’t really remember what the movie is about,” she said. “Apparently… my character isn’t very smart. But I fly and sing, and I think I like killing children, I don’t know.’

However, there was one thing she couldn’t forget: her Real loved flying.

Parker said she would sit on the oil rig in costume and read The New York Times while people were “taking breaks or changing the camera.”

Sarah Jessica Parker is related to a real witch

Well, the actress is related to an alleged witch. In 2010, Parker appeared in the series Who do you think you are? and discovered that she was (very distantly) related to Esther Elwell, an accused witch in the infamous Salem witch trials. Fortunately, her case never went to trial, because the trial of someone for witchcraft was abolished. Perhaps this explains Parker’s love of flying.

The song that Sarah Jessica Parker sings in the movie ‘Come, Little Children’ is by the same man who wrote ‘My Heart Will Go On’.

Yes, we’re talking about the same theme song from the 1997 Oscar-winning film Titanicperformed by Céline Dion! Famed composer James Horner is behind the music and lyrics for both iconic songs.

That’s not the only thing the film had in common Titanic

Leonardo DiCaprio auditioned for the role of Max, but turned it down – and “more money than (he) ever dreamed” – in 1993. What does Gilbert grape eat.

“I don’t know where I get the courage from,” DiCaprio said Variety in 2014. “You live in an environment where you are influenced by people who tell you to make a lot of money and strike while the iron is hot. But if there is one thing I am very proud of, it is that you are a young man who will stick to my guns.”

Certainly, What does Gilbert grape eat It ended up being a critically acclaimed hit that catapulted DiCaprio to stardom, but boy, would we have loved to see young Leo light the black flame candle.

Rosie O’Donnell also turned down a role in the film

Rosie O’Donnell was asked to play Mary – which eventually went to Najimy – but turned down the role. Why?

“Because I didn’t want to play the fat, evil witch who eats and kills children,” O’Donnell said The Hollywood Reporter in 2023. “Even though it was Bette Midler, who was my favorite, and Sarah Jessica Parker… I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t do a role where I would be mean to kids, and the joke was on size , I just felt like I had to say no to that.”

As for her thoughts on Najimy’s portrayal of Mary, O’Donnell said, “I think Kathy is fantastic in it. You know, she does that face. I don’t even know how she does it.”

Two separate actors played Thackery Binx

Sean Murray played the human version…

And voice actor Jason Marsden pronounced him like a cat

Jason Marsden is also good friends with Omri Katz, who plays Max in the film. The two also shared the screen in the ’90s sci-fi children’s series Creepy, Indiana.

Thackery Binx also appeared in a witchy ’90s sitcom

When the immortal black cat comes in Hocus Pocus looks eerily familiar, as the same animatronic cat was used Sabrina the teenage witch. As Screen Rant reported, the 1996 fantasy series’ Salem Saberhagen and Thackery Binx were released Hocus Pocus are actually the same.

Some internet sleuths noticed that the film shares an iconic fountain…

…with none other than the long-running successful sitcom Friends.

In 2019, the online community discovered the famous fountain Friends’ opening titles appear in Hocus Pocus.

Hocus Pocus also shares a house with American beauty

According to Screen Rant, the house can be seen after the children escape the witches (who tried to lock them in a furnace)! Funnily enough, actress Thora Birch stars in both films.

She played Dani in the 1993 film and returned to the neighborhood in 1999 American beauty. The exterior was also used in 1989 National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.

Garry Marshall and Penny Marshall play a dissatisfied husband and wife in the film, but they are actually brother and sister

It would be creepy if they weren’t so funny.

Hocus Pocus was the first Disney film to use the word “virgin.”

If the number of times the characters say the word virgin seems like too many for a Disney movie, that’s because it is, according to the Logan County Public Library.

Real moths fly out of Billy Butcherson’s mouth

No, really. They are real! Tony Gardner, the man behind the film’s special effects makeup, told Bloody Disgusting in 2018 that they “built a rig in actor Doug Jones’ mouth to house some moths and dust so he could could cough up.”

Hocus pocus 3 really happens

Fans of the familial witch trio will be happy to know that Winifred, Mary, and Sarah will reappear in an upcoming third film, which Disney confirmed in 2023.