“Practical Magic” is coming home. Again.
The beloved 1998 film, starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, will be available for digital purchase in 4K Ultra HD and on a new 4K UHD Blu-ray disc on Aug. 25, complete with new and legacy special features from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. The sequel, “Practical Magic 2,” arrives in theaters on Sept. 11.
The 4K UHD Blu-ray disc will be available online and at major retailers, while the new 4K digital version will be available through retailers including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play, Fandango at Home (formerly Vudu) and others.
Based on the novel “Practical Magic” by Alice Hoffman, the film was directed by Griffin Dunne and features a supporting cast including Dianne Wiest, Stockard Channing, Goran Visnjic and Aidan Quinn. The film was produced by Denise Di Novi, with the adapted screenplay by Robin Swicord, Akiva Goldsman and Adam Brooks. It is a Di Novi Pictures production in association with Fortis Films.
The new special feature is “The Power of Practical Magic,” which focuses on “the women who made it revisit the story, sisterhood and world that turned an unconventional film about witches into a generational touchstone,” along with a previously released commentary track featuring Dunne, Di Novi, Bullock and composer Alan Silvestri, plus earlier featurettes on the making of the film.
“In a small, contemporary New England town, for two sisters from a family of witches, falling in love is the trickiest spell of all,” reads the official synopsis. “They struggle to use their gift for magically guiding fate to overcome their family curse: The men they fall in love with are doomed to an untimely death!”
While the film was a modest hit when it was released in 1998, it has grown into something of a cult classic in the years since, with The Atlantic celebrating the film’s 20th anniversary and Vox media declaring it “the ‘Thelma and Louise’ of witch movies.” Several attempts to revive the franchise followed, including projects in 2004 (a CBS adaptation with Kim Delaney in the Bullock role and Jeri Ryan in the Kidman role), 2010 (a prequel for ABC Family) and 2019 (another prequel series, this time for HBO Max based on Hoffman’s novel “The Rules of Magic”). None of them reached the finish line.
Thankfully, the sequel is on its way, with frequent Kidman collaborator Susanne Bier taking over for Dunne and a supporting cast that includes Joey King, Lee Pace, Maisie Williams and Xolo Maridueña joining Bullock, Kidman, Wiest and Channing.
“Practical Magic” 4K hits digital and 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray disc on Aug. 25.
