Fall is here and It’s time to get ready for Halloween. It’s the season to settle down and watch a Halloween movie. There is a decision to make between Hocus Pocus or Halloweentown and Hocus Pocus is the obvious choice. The debate has been ongoing since the early 2000s. 

Hocus Pocus came out in 1993 and starred popular actors. The main three characters, the Sanderson witch sisters, were played by famous actresses from that time. Winifred Sanderson, the oldest and most powerful sister was played by Bette Midler who was a singer who had sold 30 million records worldwide. Bette Midler had also won three Golden Globe awards by the time Hocus Pocus came out.  The second oldest sister, Mary Sanderson, was played by Kathy Najimy. Najimy is a comedian, activist, and actor. She won the American Comedy award for Funniest Supporting Actress and was nominated for many other awards. As for the youngest Sanderson sister, Sarah Sanderson, she was portrayed by Sarah Jessica Parker. Parker had won 6 Golden globe awards and was very famous on Broadway. 

First of all, Hocus Pocus had a much larger budget than Halloweentown. Hocus Pocus cost 28 million dollars in the end and didn’t have a strict budget. Halloweentown only cost 4 million dollars to make.  Clearly working with a much smaller budget. Halloweentown had to work with what they had while Hocus Pocus was given room to experiment and was able to bring the movie to life with more expensive cinematic options at their disposal. 

Hocus Pocus was voted higher in the article “Most iconic ’90s Halloween movie: ‘Hocus Pocus’ or ‘Halloweentown’?” By Harriet White on thetylt.com. A poll was posted on their website asking readers to choose the film they found more entertaining: The results of the poll revealed that 56.8% of the voters preferred Hocus Pocus while 43.2% voted for Halloweentown.

Hocus Pocus was also more popular amongst Kelly Walsh High School students and teachers. 

Why is Hocus Pocus better than Halloweentown? Jenifer Lijewski who is a weight lifting teacher said, “Hocus Pocus is better… it is more enjoyable.”

Tristyn Buss who is a 10th grader and Reagan Howe who is a 10th grader agreed that it was funnier and that the actors were funnier.  Samantha Pelton who is a 10th grader said, “It has more of a story line.”

 Hocus Pocus is a classic that families can enjoy during the Halloween season. Hocus Pocus is more accessible to view because it was a big budget feature film in theaters and then released on DVD, while Halloweentown was a “made for TV” movie specifically by Disney for the Disney Channel.  Both movies are now on Disney+ so the streaming age has made both movies more available to viewers.