Practical Magic 2 is nearly here, and Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman brought reinforcements

Twenty eight years after we all wanted to be adopted into the Owens family, Practical Magic 2 is nearly here, and the cast list alone is enough to make you clear your calendar.

Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman are both back as Sally and Gillian Owens, with Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing returning as the aunts who made the original required viewing for anyone who has ever wanted a house full of candles and questionable life advice. Joey King joins as one of Sally's daughters, and Lee Pace and Maisie Williams round out a genuinely stacked new cast list.

The sequel is based on Alice Hoffman's 2021 novel The Book of Magic, picking up the Owens family story 25 years after the events of the first film. Expect a multi generational family of witches confronting a centuries old curse that means love never lasts, with the kind of sacrifice and secret digging that made the source material a bestseller.

Susanne Bier is directing, which is a smart pick given she has already worked with both leads separately, Bullock on Bird Box and Kidman on The Perfect Couple. Original screenwriter Akiva Goldsman is back too, so this is not a reboot chasing nostalgia with none of the people who understood the first film.

Release timing has actually moved up. The film was originally locked for 18 September, but it has now shifted a week earlier, landing in international cinemas from 9 September and hitting North America on 11 September. So this is very much a this week story, not a someday story.

The original Practical Magic was not a box office hit in 1998, but it built one of the most devoted cult followings of any nineties film, the kind of movie that gets rewatched every October whether anyone admits it or not. A sequel arriving nearly three decades later, with this cast and this creative team, is either going to be the comfort watch of the year or a cautionary tale about leaving well enough alone.

Either way, block out a weekend in September. The Owens sisters are back, and this time they brought reinforcements.