Bette Midler urges Disney to hurry with “Hocus Pocus 3” script: 'Get us while we're still breathing'

EW has an exclusive clip of Midler teasing the long-awaited threequel to "Hocus Pocus" on "Busy This Week."

Bette Midler would apparently prefer that Disney not wait 300 years (right down to the day) to make Hocus Pocus 3, thank you very much.

Entertainment Weekly's exclusive preview of the actress' upcoming appearance on Busy Philipps' QVC+ talk show Busy This Week (below) includes a comical segment in which Midler jokes about the central cast's ages while urging the studio behind both Hocus Pocus films to expedite the process of making the sequel if they want herself, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy to return.

"I haven't seen the script, but, I've heard rumblings," Midler, 78, tells Philipps in the clip, confirming Disney's prior 2023 announcement that, following the streaming success of 2022's Hocus Pocus 2 on Disney+, Hocus Pocus 3 was in the works. Screenwriter Jen D'Angelo also previously spoke to EW about her work on the script, exclusively revealing that she'd like to explore more of Hannah Waddingham's mother witch from the second film.

Related: Hocus Pocus 2 originally had Thora Birch's Dani battling Sanderson Sisters with 'arsenal of anti-magic'

Still, Midler maintains to Philipps that she hasn't "seen anything" when it comes to the story, before quipping about the cast.

"I think if they're gonna, they oughta, because time is not just marching, time is barrel-assing to the finish line," Midler says in the footage, laughing. "Get us while we're still breathing, I mean, God!"

EW has reached out to Disney for comment.

Elsewhere on Busy This Week, Midler also admits that, upon Hocus Pocus' initial release in 1993, she felt that the film was a "dud," until it gained traction as a "cult classic" due to subsequent airings on the Disney Channel each fall. She adds that the cast was met with "complete disinterest" when they pushed for a sequel, until it finally happened in the streaming era.

In June, Midler also spoke about the third Hocus Pocus movie, telling The Jess Cagle Show that the minds behind the film are "kind of talking about a third, very gingerly and very gently," but she had nothing concrete to share just yet.

"Kathy had a good idea that the third one should be animated," Parker told EW in a 2022 interview for the second film. "That would be cool and a smart idea. It's fun, funny, and could be interesting and innovative, like old-fashioned or new [animation]. Of course I'd be happy to have a conversation, it just depends on what Kathy and Bette want!"

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Related: OG Hocus Pocus cast reunites to tell best behind-the-scenes stories, from cannabis to a 'wall of cats'

Shortly after Disney confirmed Hocus Pocus 3's development, original Hocus Pocus star Omri Katz — who, in addition to OG actors Vinessa Shaw and Thora Birch, didn't reprise their roles in the sequel — told EW he'd gladly portray Max Dennison, one of three Salem teens who accidentally resurrect the Sanderson Sisters witches on Halloween night, once again if the studio asked.

"Yes, I would return if Disney approached me," he said at the time, via email. "It would be an honor to return, hopefully with some of my fellow cast mates, and make a fun addition to the franchise!"

Related: Hocus Pocus director addresses theory that Allison is a witch, reveals spinoff idea

While Katz, Shaw, and Birch didn't return for Hocus Pocus 2, D'Angelo told EW that initial versions of the script included cameos for Max and bullies Jay and Ice, as well as an expanded role for Birch's Dani Dennison as a teacher at a Salem high school attended by a group of new teens (Whitney Peak, Belissa Escobedo, Lilia Buckingham) who resurrect the Sanderson Sisters.

"She got involved in the hijinks because she spent her entire life keeping her eye out for the Sanderson Sisters," the Quiz Lady scribe said. "So, when she gets a whiff of their resurrection, she has a whole arsenal of anti-magic. She's like, I've been preparing for this. We definitely still love that idea and, hopefully, there are ways to get that back in."

Busy This Week airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on QVC+. Watch Midler discuss Hocus Pocus 3 in the clip above.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.