Few movies have had a second act like Hocus Pocus. When Kenny Ortega's comedy about three resurrected witches opened in theaters in July 1993 — a Halloween movie released in the middle of summer — critics shrugged and audiences stayed away. It looked like a footnote in Disney's history. Three decades later, it is arguably the most rewatched Halloween film in America.

The resurrection started on television. The film became a fixture on the Disney Channel in the late 1990s and then anchored ABC Family's annual 13 Nights of Halloween programming block, later Freeform's 31 Nights of Halloween. An entire generation absorbed the Sanderson sisters through sheer repetition: Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy became as much a part of October as pumpkin spice.

Nostalgia did the rest. Kids who watched the film on cable every October grew up, and as adults they introduced it to their own children, turning a TV habit into a family tradition. The formula helps: Hocus Pocus is a comedy with costumes, songs, and a talking cat, not a horror film. It delivers the aesthetic of Halloween — witches, black cats, Salem, candlelight — without anything that would genuinely frighten a family audience.

The franchise has only grown stronger with age. A devoted fanbase of costume ideas, memes, and merchandise keeps the film in the cultural conversation every October, and the 2022 sequel introduced the witches to a new generation. Few films can claim to have become more famous thirty years after release than on opening weekend.

It is also a reminder that holiday viewing is about ritual more than novelty. As the season shifts toward winter, Netflix's Christmas lineup is already building its own annual traditions — the same way the Sanderson sisters did.

And Disney knows the value of a rewatchable family hit: this year's streaming giant Toy Story 5, one of Disney's biggest hits of the year, is following the same playbook. Some movies are made for opening weekend. Hocus Pocus was made for every October after.