Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock on Why It Felt Right to Make ‘Practical Magic 2’ Now

"Practical Magic" wasn't an instant hit back in 1998 — its stars remember plenty of skepticism along the way. Now, with the sequel finally in theaters, Kidman and Bullock reflect on how that story became a phenomenon.

They didn't know it yet, but when Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock debuted their fantasy film "Practical Magic," they had created a cult classic that would have an enduring impact on its audience.

Nearly three decades later, the actresses have delivered another chapter of the Owens witches' story.

The film followed sisters Sally and Gillian Owens, two witches descended from generations of women with magical abilities. The Owens women are also bound by a family curse: any man they fall in love with is doomed to die.

While it may come as a surprise to some, the beloved fantasy flick wasn't always the cult classic it's now known to be. In fact, Bullock recently reflected on how difficult it was to promote the original witchy film during an interview with Entertainment Weekly.

"When we first came out, it was a bumpy road for us," she shared. "Like we knew what we were making and why we were making it. The response wasn't what it is now." One particular question, in fact, often left the "Miss Congeniality" alum at a loss for words.

"If I heard one more time, you know, 'How many women do you need in a film?'" the actress remarked. The film's message of sisterhood and support was always especially meaningful to Bullock, who noted that all the negativity was "surprising."

"I don't want to say I had shame, but I was sad at how it sort of was received initially," she admitted. Still, once the movie finally found its audience, the delayed reaction only made the payoff sweeter.

"When it caught its wave with those who were supposed to find it, and they were able to coven and communicate with social media, everyone found each other, and we didn't realize how big that audience was," Bullock, 62, recalled.

"Practical Magic 2" was first announced in June 2024, with the film now slated for theatrical release this week, on September 10. In a new cover story for People, Kidman and Bullock dug deeper into why now felt like the right moment to revisit the Owens sisters.

"For me, it sort of honored generations of ancestry and future generations in a way that I don't think we've talked about much on film. Which is, we forget that our mothers and grandmothers were young women with dreams and hopes and desires as well," Bullock explained.

"And we never looked at them as human beings like that. They were just Mom and Grandma. So in this, we get to look behind the curtain and go, 'I didn't know you felt that way, I didn't know you were longing,'" she continued.

Kidman chimed in, recalling how the pair brainstormed the continuation of the Owens witches' story. Her motivations for returning to the franchise mirrored Bullock's own, tying back to the film's themes of family, responsibility, and generational trauma.

"A lot of it was based on how every family carries something and how do you deal with it and remove the patterns that have been existing for so long from generation to generation," Kidman shared.

She went on, "As sisters, we were both like, 'Oh yeah, you now carry the family as people pass and move on.' That was something that I so related to."