It took nearly 28 years, but the Owens sisters are finally back. Fans have been asking for another Practical Magic movie almost since the original arrived in 1998, and Practical Magic 2 brings Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman together again as Sally and Gillian Owens.
They aren’t the only familiar faces returning, either. Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest are back as the Owens sisters’ aunts, giving longtime fans another chance to spend time with the family that made the first movie so memorable. Still, after such a long wait, there is an obvious question. What took so long?
Practical Magic 2 had a long road back to the screen
A sequel may have sounded like an easy idea from the outside. The original movie continued to find fans over the years, the cast remained closely associated with it, and audiences never really stopped talking about the possibility of another film.
Actually getting one made was a different story.
According to Bullock and Kidman, there were a number of obstacles that had to be worked through before Practical Magic 2 could finally happen.
And after almost three decades, the movie couldn’t simply pick up where the first one left off.
Time had passed for the characters just as it had for the audience.
That gave the sequel room to expand the Owens family story, with much of the new plot involving Sally’s daughters. The younger generation now has a much larger place in the story while Sally, Gillian and their aunts remain part of the world fans already know.
In a way, the long delay helped create the movie’s new direction.
The Owens family gets another chapter
For fans of the first film, seeing Bullock and Kidman together again may be the biggest reason to return.
Their relationship as Sally and Gillian was at the heart of Practical Magic, and bringing them back nearly 28 years later gives the sequel a connection to the original that would have been difficult to replace.
The return of Channing and Wiest only adds to that feeling. At the same time, Practical Magic 2 isn’t simply trying to recreate what audiences saw in 1998. The Owens family has grown, the daughters are older and the story now has another generation to explore. Fans had to wait a very long time to see it happen.
For Bullock and Kidman, there were simply a lot of things that needed to come together first.
Click on the media bar below to hear Sandra Bullock & Nicole Kidman explain why it took so long to finally make Practical Magic 2.
Practical Magic 2 is now playing in theaters.
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