Sandra Bullock Recalls ‘Practical Magic’ Box Office Bomb: ‘It Got Quiet’

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Sandra Bullock Recalls ‘Practical Magic’ Box Office Bomb: ‘It Got Quiet’

01.09.2026 1 September 2026
2040
2 min.
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1 quote

Cult Classic Gets Sequel

Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman are back for Practical Magic 2, nearly three decades after the original film received a far cooler response than its stars expected.

At the sequel’s Los Angeles premiere on Monday, August 31, Bullock, 62, reflected on the disappointment surrounding the 1998 release.

“We thought, ‘This is going to be such an amazing film. People are going to love it.’ And then it got quiet. It got quiet,” she told Variety.

Released in October 1998, Practical Magic earned about $68 million worldwide against an estimated $75 million budget and drew mixed reviews. In the years that followed, however, the film found a much larger audience and developed a cult following.

Bullock and Kidman, 59, return as witch sisters Sally and Gillian “Gilly” Owens. Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest also reprise their roles as aunts Frances “Franny” and Jet, while Maisie Williams and Joey King play Sally’s daughters.

Kidman said the sequel came together naturally once the timing was right. She also spoke about the reunion in a November 2025 Interview magazine conversation with Ariana Grande, noting that her long-standing relationships with Bullock and the other women in the cast made filming feel unusually comfortable and supportive.

This time, Susanne Bier directs, while Bullock and Kidman also serve as producers. The franchise continues to draw from the world created by author Alice Hoffman, and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman provides another creative connection to the 1998 film.

For Bullock and Kidman, the sequel marks a rare return to a project that grew in popularity long after its original theatrical run.

Practical Magic 2 is released in theaters on September 10.

GRANDE Ariana

Singer
#11
BULLOCK Sandra

American actress and film producer
#34
KIDMAN Nicole

Actress and producer
#76
WILLIAMS Margaret

English actress
#88
KING Joey

American actress
#1007
CHANNING Stockard

American actress
#255
WIEST Dianne

American actress
#258
HOFFMAN Alice

American novelist
#270
BIER Susanne

Danish filmmaker
#277
GOLDSMAN Akiva

American screenwriter
#281
Variety

#21

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Section: culture

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