Practical Magic 2 Box Office Debut Doubles OG Movie, Could Be Enough To Break Franchise Curse

Published Sep 12, 2026, 12:00 PM EDT

Brennan Klein (he/him) is a senior news writer at Screen Rant, host of the Attack of the Queerwolf podcast, and contributor at Alternate Ending and Horror Press. He has been writing and podcasting about pop culture (especially horror movies) for over a decade at platforms including Blumhouse, Fangoria, Dread Central, The Backlot, and Arrow in the Head.

Practical Magic 2 has cast a spell on the box office.

2026's Practical Magic 2 is a belated sequel to 1998's Practical Magic, featuring Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock reprising their roles as witch sisters Gillian and Sally Owens opposite Joey King and Maisie Williams as Sally's daughters. The original 1998 movie was a flop in theaters, grossing just $68.3 million against its reported budget of roughly $75 million. However, over the years, it has grown to become a cult classic, eventually earning this sequel, which also features Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest reprising their original roles as Sally and Gillian's aunts, Frances and Jet.

Practical Magic 2 was directed by Susanne Bier (Bird Box) and features supporting performances by Lee Pace, Xolo Maridueña, Katy Wix, and Solly McLeod.

Per Variety, as of Saturday morning, Practical Magic 2 is projected to earn a 3-day total of $30 million at the domestic box office by the end of its opening weekend. This is more than enough for it to debut at No. 1, officially dethroning the summer blockbuster Spider-Man: Brand New Day after the Marvel Cinematic Universe movie spent six consecutive weekends at the top of the chart (breaking a record for the MCU in the process). This total also more than doubles the $13.1 million 3-day gross that the original movie earned during its opening weekend in 1998.

When the domestic debut of the original Practical Magic is adjusted for inflation, its 3-day total is roughly $27 million, so the sequel has still managed to surpass it even by that metric.

The fact that the two opening weekend grosses are so close might seem like a bad sign for the new movie, considering the fact that the original was not a theatrical success. However, Practical Magic 2 reportedly cost $75 million, which technically puts it in a lower budget range. While the original movie cost between $60 and $75 million, when adjusted for inflation, that total balloons to between $122 and $153 million, meaning that the sequel effectively cost about half of what the original movie did.

Because tentpole movies often need to earn back two and a half times their production budgets in theaters in order to break even, this likely places the estimated break-even point of Practical Magic 2 somewhere around $187.5 million. If its theatrical run follows a similar trajectory to the original movie, this means that its higher opening weekend could ultimately push it to a worldwide total of $156 million, falling just short of that benchmark.

However, the sequel could earn a boost from solid word of mouth. While Practical Magic 2 reviews have largely lambasted it, earning it a score of 36% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, it has performed significantly better with verified audience members, earning a Verified Hot score of 93% on the Popcornmeter. In addition to indicating that it had audience enthusiasm required to keep growing, both scores are higher than the original movie's. Below, see a breakdown of how both movies have performed on Rotten Tomatoes:

Title	RT Critic Score	RT Audience Score
Practical Magic (1998)	30%	36%
Practical Magic 2 (2026)	73%	93%

This could indicate that Practical Magic 2 could climb even higher than the original movie by the end of its run, becoming the first movie in the franchise to break even. Regardless, even if it doesn't break even in theaters, it has the potential to climb high enough that it should end up in the black much quicker than the original movie thanks to additional revenue from its impending video on demand, physical media, and streaming releases.

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