With films like “The Nun II,” “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” and most famously the “It” duology among the recent examples, Warner Bros. has shown that the post-Labor Day release slot is one of its favorites on the calendar. Now it is hoping that slot can bring good fortune to “Practical Magic 2” in a year that has brought the studio a slump it hasn’t seen in a quarter-century.
To date, Warner Bros. has yet to release a film in 2026 that has grossed more than $100 million domestically. The last time that happened was back in 2001, a year where the studio released classics like “A.I.: Artificial Intelligence” and “Training Day” but did not yield a $100 million hit until December with “Ocean’s Eleven” and the highest grossing movie of that year, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.”
Warners, whose fate is up in the air amid the Paramount takeover drama, once again has a guaranteed drought buster in December with Legendary’s “Dune: Part Three,” and relief may come earlier with the animated “The Cat in the Hat” in November, but the company that enjoyed a smash success in 2025 with films like “Sinners,” “A Minecraft Movie” and “Weapons” can’t seem to catch a break.
We last brought up this slump a month ago before the release of “The End of Oak Street,” but despite that film’s praise from critics, its PG-13 grisly take on the dinosaur subgenre hasn’t clicked significantly with a wide audience — it has only grossed $51.7 million domestic and $115 million worldwide through four weekends against an $80 million budget.
Now comes “Practical Magic 2,” a legacy sequel to the 1998 supernatural romantic dramedy starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman as Sally and Gillian Owens, a pair of sisters who come from a long line of witches blessed with magical powers but struck with a curse that will take the life of any man they fall in love with. Warner Bros. is projecting a $30-35 million 4-day domestic opening for the $75 million production, with independent tracking giving the film a shot at reaching $40 million.
“Practical Magic” got negative reviews and mixed audience reception — including a B- on CinemaScore — grossing $94.4 million worldwide against a $60 million budget. But the themes of sisterhood and Kidman and Bullock’s chemistry turned the movie into a cult film that flourished on DVD, especially with women.
Now comes a sequel where Sally must reckon with the curse’s effect on her two daughters and rally Gillian and the other witches of the Owens family to bring an end to the curse. Just like in 1998, critics aren’t going to be a help for “Practical Magic 2,” as it stands with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 35% (although our critic endorsed it for those who love the original).
The best-case scenario for “Practical Magic 2” is that the same qualities that made its predecessor into a secret success allow it to become a more immediate one this time around, both with the Gen X and elder millennial women who have held the Owens sisters dear to them over the years and with younger women with no prior attachment.
“Practical Magic 2” will have enough of a core audience to end the six-week reign of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” atop the charts, but if it can find legs, it won’t have much direct competition as the major titles for the rest of September include Sony’s horror film “Resident Evil,” which will skew towards male moviegoers, and the DreamWorks animated family film “Forgotten Island,” which features female leads but is aimed primarily towards kids and parents.
But the thing about cult films is that legacy sequels made decades later don’t always lead to the box office success that wasn’t attained the first time around. The 2010 Disney film “Tron: Legacy” was able to buck that trend with a $400 million global theatrical run thanks to its striking and unique visuals and the advantage of coming out at the height of the post-“Avatar” 3D craze.
On the flip side, there’s “Blade Runner,” a film that is now regarded as one of the greatest sci-fi films of all time but was widely ignored when it came out in 1982, grossing just $41.8 million. When Warner Bros. released Denis Villeneuve’s legacyquel, “Blade Runner 2049” in 2017, it got just as much praise as the original and earned a pair of Oscars to boot. But it too disappointed at the box office, grossing $277 million worldwide against a $150 million budget.
With fans of the original poised to show up when it opens on Thursday, “Practical Magic 2” will likely get better audience scores than the original. The question is whether the film will be able to draw in casual audiences, particularly women, who will be needed to sustain the movie in subsequent weekends.
Also opening this weekend is Disney’s music documentary, “Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger,” which takes a closer look at the long-anticipated reunion of Britpop kings Noel and Liam Gallagher for their first tour in 16 years. Known as much for their long history of feuding as for their smash hits like “Wonderwall” and “Live Forever,” the doc features the Gallaghers’ first joint interview in decades and has received glowing reviews after its Venice Film Festival premiere. The doc is projected for a $5-7 million opening from 1,200 locations.
