Bullock, 62, chose custom Louis Vuitton for her own interpretation of Owens-family formality. Her fitted black velvet gown featured a wide pointed white collar and matching cuffs. The two actors posed together before joining the wider cast, reviving the visual contrast between Kidman’s more unruly Gillian Owens and Bullock’s guarded Sally Owens.
Their return follows years of unsuccessful attempts to expand the property. Proposed television prequels were announced in 2010 and again in 2019, but neither reached the screen.
Which cast members are returning?
Kidman and Bullock reprise their roles as Gillian and Sally, while Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest return as the eccentric aunts Frances and Jet Owens.
Joey King and Maisie Williams have joined the family as Kylie and Antonia. Despite earlier descriptions suggesting the characters belong to different sisters, Vogue reports that both are Sally’s daughters. Evan Rachel Wood and Alexandra Artrip originated those roles in the 1998 film.
Wood told Entertainment Tonight that she was sad not to have been invited back, despite offering to appear. She also said the omission would disappoint longtime fans. Recasting younger characters decades later is hardly unusual, but excluding an actor who publicly asked to return has given the family reunion a slightly less magical edge.
Other cast members include:
- Lee Pace
- Xolo Maridueña
- Solly McLeod
Susanne Bier directed the sequel, with Akiva Goldsman, Georgia Pritchett and Kelly Marcel credited as screenwriters. The story draws from Alice Hoffman’s 2021 novel The Book of Magic, continuing the fictional world she began with her 1995 novel Practical Magic.
What is the sequel about?
The new film takes place 25 years after the events of the original and follows the Owens family as buried secrets and the origins of their powers come to light. Those revelations create another crisis for Sally and Gillian, whose earlier approach to family emergencies involved spells, resurrection and increasingly serious legal complications.
The 1998 film began with the sisters losing their parents to a family curse. Raised by Frances and Jet, they learned the practical uses of magic before adulthood brought abusive relationships, death and an extremely unwise attempt to bring Gillian’s boyfriend back from the dead.
Kidman confirmed the sequel in 2024, telling People: “Yes I will be in it. And Sandy will be in it. And that’s that.”
She added that there was “a lot more to tell” and said the team had “found a way in.” More recently, Kidman told The Independent that the sequel happened because of the fans, describing its emotional centre as “sisterhood” and “family.”
Bullock also acknowledged the original film’s lasting connection with outsiders. Speaking to Attitude, she became emotional while discussing younger LGBTQ viewers and said they are “supported.”
How did the original become a cult favourite?
The first Practical Magic was not an immediate critical or commercial triumph. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 30% critics’ score, while box-office records show a $13.1 million opening weekend, a $46.9 million domestic total and $68.3 million worldwide.
Its reported production cost remains disputed. The Numbers lists a $60 million budget, while Box Office Mojo puts it at $75 million. Under either estimate, the theatrical run did not produce the kind of result that normally prompts a sequel within a sensible administrative timeframe.
Home viewing changed the calculation. Over the following decades, audiences embraced the film’s combination of romance, witchcraft, family loyalty and outsider identity. That durable following ultimately achieved what the initial box office could not: persuading Warner Bros. that Sally and Gillian still had commercial life in them.
No critic reviews or verified audience ratings for the sequel were listed on Rotten Tomatoes ahead of release. Warner Bros. says the film begins opening internationally on September 9 and arrives in North America on September 11, although some cinema listings give September 10 as the wider release date.
