How Disney Classics Like ‘Hocus Pocus’ Are Scaring Up Box Office Amid Pandemic Slump

Disney’s rerelease of the 1993 family horror-comedy “Hocus Pocus” has fueled much-needed mojo into the domestic box office this month. With theaters once again looking to older films for revenue to prevent thousands of cinemas from going into bankruptcy, Disney has provided a bit of help to that scary situation with some Halloween classics. Two weeks ago, Disney rereleased “Hocus Pocus,” which bombed with critics and the box office when it opened 27 years ago, but has slowly gained a cult following and introduced Bette Midler to a new audience as the evil witch Winnie Sanderson. Now, it has grossed just over $4 million over three weekends in 2,000 theaters that are still open, making it the highest-grossing rerelease since the start of the pandemic in March.