Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman still have plenty of box-office magic.
Nearly three decades after first playing the Owens sisters, the two stars have returned in “Practical Magic 2,” and moviegoers turned their reunion into the biggest film of the weekend.
The supernatural sequel opened with an estimated $30 million in North American ticket sales from 4,146 theaters. International audiences contributed another $16 million, putting the film’s worldwide opening at approximately $46 million.
The performance was enough to send the movie directly to No. 1 and knock “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” from the top position after the superhero film dominated the domestic box office for six consecutive weekends.
Bullock and Kidman reprise their roles as Sally and Gillian Owens, sisters belonging to a family whose history of witchcraft comes with a particularly troublesome inheritance: an ancestral curse complicating their romantic lives.
This time, the sisters are determined to put an end to that curse once and for all.
The new chapter also expands the Owens family. Joey King and Maisie Williams play members of its younger generation, while Lee Pace joins the cast as another newcomer.
Susanne Bier directs the film, which reportedly carries a $75 million production budget.
Its arrival marks an unusually long-awaited Hollywood reunion. The original “Practical Magic” reached theaters in 1998 and earned $46 million during its initial domestic run. Its real staying power emerged later, as audiences continued discovering and rediscovering the movie through home entertainment, streaming and social media.
That gradual transformation from modest theatrical performer to enduring favorite gave the sequel something money cannot easily manufacture: generations of viewers already invested in the Owens sisters.
Now Bullock and Kidman are at the center of the franchise once again, joined by younger stars who could carry the Owens family’s supernatural adventures forward.
The $30 million opening does not guarantee the film’s long-term success, particularly against a reported $75 million production cost. Its performance over the coming weeks will provide a clearer picture of how far the franchise’s renewed popularity can travel.
For its first weekend, however, the Owens sisters accomplished something unmistakable.
After 28 years away, they came back and went straight to No. 1.
