12 Things You Never Knew About "Hocus Pocus"
1. The movie was originally meant to be a smaller Disney Channel Original Movie, kind of like Halloweentown. Luckily, it caught the attention of some bigger Disney executives who thought it could do really well in theaters. Hence its bigger budget and big-name stars like Bette Midler and Sarah Jessica Parker.
2. '90s dreamboat Leonardo DiCaprio was originally offered the role of Max Dennison (not to mention a handsome pay check). But he passed on the role to play Arnie Grape in What's Eating Gilbert Grape. He did get an Oscar nomination for that role so we kind of understand his decision, but how awesome would he have been?!
3. Doug Jones, AKA everyone's favorite zombie Billy Butcherson in the movie, revealed that the moths that escaped from his mouth at the end of the film were REAL, not CGI. Ummm... EWWW!
4. Hocus Pocus started out as a bedtime story. Producer
David Kirschner came up with the story as a bedtime story for his daughter. It's a wonder why he thought this scary story would be good right before bedtime... Nightmares, guaranteed!
5. In case you missed it, the three sisters who steal the Sanderson sisters' brooms resemble the Sanderson sisters themselves. One had red hair and green cape like Winifred, one had black hair and red cape like Mary, and the other had blonde hair and a purple cape like Sarah. Check it out:
6. Despite the movie being a Halloween movie, it was actually released on July 16, 1993. They didn't want to compete with The Nightmare Before Christmas.
7. Kenny Ortega directed the movie. No wonder it was such a huge hit. He's the genius behind Disney Channel's biggest hits, from High School Musical and The Cheetah Girls, to Descendants!
8. Binx the cat was originally much scarier! Rhythm and Hues, the visual effects and animation company that created the CGI Thackery Binx, went all out in making his feline features realistic, including giving him majorly sharp fangs and teeth. Producers felt he might be too scary and sinister for young audience members, so they scaled his fangs back to make him seem friendlier.
9. Rosie O'Donnell was originally offered the role of Mary Sanderson. She turned it down because she didn't want to seem like a "scary witch." The role ended up going to Kathy Najimy, who was admittedly amazing as Winifred's clueless sister!
10. It took 9 cats to play Binx. Each cat had a different skill, from swatting to sleeping. (Because sleeping takes major skill when it comes to cats.)
11. Human Binx's voice wasn't his real voice. Even though Sean Murray, the actor who played human Binx, was originally meant to voice Binx, the producers decided to dub his voice because he sounded too contemporary, and Binx needed to sound more like someone from the 1600s.
12. In other countries, Hocus Pocus is called Abracadabra.
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