Bette Midler Resurrects ‘Hocus Pocus’ Character With 2016 Halloween Costume
Bette Midler brought her iconic Hocus Pocus character back to life Friday (October 28), when she unveiled her Winifred Sanderson Halloween costume during an appearance at the New York Restoration Project’s annual Hulaween fundraiser.
"Winifred Sanderson flies in to Hulaween! Says thanks to everyone who made it such an electrifying evening!!" Midler wrote on Twitter, along with a photo of herself in costume.
Midler’s costume — which was identical to her look in the 1993 film — reignited fans’ desire for a Hocus Pocus sequel, and Midler’s onboard.
"You don't get to see women doing slapstick too much, and in the movie you can see that we're having a blast,” the Beaches actress said in a recent interview with Billboard. "For the life of me, I can't understand why there's not a sequel.”
She continued, saying, "All the shackles were off, as Donald Trump likes to say, and we were allowed to be as wild as we wanted to be. It was a perfect storm of fun."
Fellow cast member Sarah Jessica Parker -- who played Sarah Sanderson in the movie -- has echoed similar sentiments of returning to the Hocus Pocus world.
"I would love that," she said during an interview with Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live. "I think we’ve all been fairly vocal about being very keen but that hasn’t created any groundswell of movement.”
Sadly, the odds are stacked against the actors, as Midler admitted during a 2015 Facebook Q&A session that the likelihood of a Hocus Pocus 2 taking shape was pretty low: "After all these years and all the fan demand, I do believe I can stand and firmly say an unequivocal no."
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