“Why did we come here, Nicole?” Sandra Bullock asked a screaming crowd as she stared at Nicole Kidman at CinemaCon on Tuesday.
“We come to this place for magic,” Kidman said with a smile, as Kidman’s signature line in an AMC Theaters commercial sent the movie theater owner audience into a frenzy. But this wasn’t a pre-screening clip, it was the moment Warner Bros. Pictures highlighted this year’s highly anticipated “Practical Magic 2” at its annual Las Vegas convention.
On stage, Bullock called the first film “a story that people have very politely refused to let go of.” The story follows two sisters from a dynasty of witches as they confront a family curse and establish their own identities. Although not a bona fide blockbuster when it was first released, “Practical Magic” became a home entertainment treasure and gained fans for generations. Based on the teaser trailer featuring Bullock and Kidman, they won’t disappoint this fall.
“I’m sure you’ve heard of the Owens family,” Bullock, who plays Sally Owens, says during the teaser trailer. “They’re from Massachusetts, and the neighbors are whispering that they’re witches.” Bullock’s Sally is watching her daughters grow up and start new lives of their own, while Kidman’s boyish Gillian Owens is settling into a life with a black cat. It doesn’t take long to find them (apparently courtesy of the brooding Lee Pace, who takes the sisters out of a quaint New England town on a dramatic mission).
Returning along with Kidman and Bullock are Owens’ iconic aunts Frances, played by Stockard Channing, and Jett, played by Dianne Wiest. New members of the sequel ensemble include Lee Pace (Bodies, Bodies), Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones), Xolo Maridueña (The Blue Beetle), Solly McLeod (The Dead Don’t Heart), and Joey King (The Act).
“We’re like sisters. I have a lot of protection and love for her,” Kidman said of Bullock in Variety’s cover story in March. “We also have incredible chemistry. We create differently. She’s incredibly hands-on and I love to delegate. We have different skill sets that complement each other. It’s great that we still know each other.”
The film is directed by Suzanne Bier (Bird Box) and co-written by Akiva Goldsman and Georgia Pritchett (Succession), who also co-wrote the original story.
