Hocus Pocus is, hands down, one of the most popular Halloween movies ever. Because it’s almost Halloween and because we absolutely love this movie, here are a few fun facts about Hocus Pocus!

This past July marked the 20th anniversary of Hocus Pocus, which means we’ve been able to enjoy the adventures of the Sandersons and the Salem youths every Halloween for over two decades. Can you believe it? For a lot of us, that’s the majority of our relatively short lives!

But, after 20 years of enjoying Hocus Pocus, how much do you actually know about it? While we consider ourselves super Hocus Pocus aficionados, we have to admit that we definitely aren’t experts on the movie, its flaws, or even the process that went into making it.

In the spirit of Halloween and the movie’s 20th anniversary, here are thirteen fun facts you may or may not have known about Hocus Pocus.

1. In July 1993, ‘Hocus Pocus’ made only about $40 million at the box office on a $28 million dollar budget.

While that isn’t a fantastic box office run, don’t feel bad for Hocus Pocus just yet. With TV syndication and video/DVD sales, the movie makes more and more every year. Like a few other Halloween movies from the ’90s, Hocus Pocus has become a popular cult favorite (if not the most popular).

2. Leonardo DiCaprio was originally supposed to portray Max Dennison, but he turned down the opportunity to star in ‘What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.’

Does this really surprise you? Leonardo DiCaprio’s bad luck strikes again. No, this movie probably would not have gotten him an Oscar nomination (or any other large scale award), but it would have at least meant he would have another fan-favorite movie under his belt. Besides, we’re pretty sure that there isn’t a movie star alive who didn’t wish they had been in Hocus Pocus.
 

3. There are a few scenes in a trailer for the movie that have never shown up in any version of the movie, whether it be on TV or VHS/DVD.

Hocus Pocus enthusiasts (and even habitual or occasional viewers) will notice the missing scenes right away in the short trailer above. We don’t know about you, but we would love to see the Sanderson sisters hit up a grocery store. Those few seconds with Mary and some sort of condiment look like they would have been super entertaining as an entire scene. You would think that these fun scenes would have ended up on a DVD at some point. They clearly have the footage somewhere, so it’s not like they trashed it or it never existed. Oh well, hopefully we’ll see it one day. 25th anniversary maybe?
 

4. ‘Hocus Pocus’ is the only movie that Kenny Ortega has ever directed without also doing the choreography.

Kenny Ortega is probably best-known for his work on High School Musical. Could you imagine if Ortega had done some sort of choreography for Hocus Pocus? Yes, it would be kind of funny to see the Sanderson sisters sing and dance in sync to some ridiculous song. However, we can only imagine what kind of song would be sung about the fact that the black candle had to be lit by a virgin. It would most likely make our skin crawl.

5. The Sanderson sisters were supposedly hanged on October 31, 1693. However, the Salem witch trials ended in May 1693.

Yes, this is less of a fun fact and more of a movie flaw or inaccuracy. But it’s still kind of interesting, isn’t it? We understand why they’d choose 1693 as the year. After all, the movie came out in 1993 and it just sounds better to remember or celebrate the Sanderson sisters’ hanging if it was 300 years ago instead of 301. At least this isn’t a gaping flaw. We didn’t notice it ourselves until we did a bit of research.
 

6. Sean Murray, the actor who played Thackery Binx, did not provide the voice for Binx the cat.

Binx was voiced by another actor named Jason Marsden (no, no relation to James Marsden unfortunately). Our question is who wouldn’t want NCIS‘s Tim McGee to voice a main character in a movie? He’s just so adorable and definitely has a voice to match. We just don’t understand why Sean Murray wasn’t asked to voice Binx the cat. While he isn’t a voice actor like Jason Marsden, we would have liked the continuity. Although, we didn’t really notice he wasn’t the voice until recently…
 
Continue on to the next page for some more fun Hocus Pocus trivia.

7. Even though Max is shown at school on Halloween, October 31, 1993 fell on a Sunday.

To burst your bubble even further, there hasn’t been a full moon on Halloween since 1974. The next Halloween full moon won’t happen until 2020. We don’t know about you, but this fun fact doesn’t take away from the movie for us at all. We’ll just chalk it up to some sort of sneaky witchcraft and leave it at that. If Winifred Sanderson can put a spell on such a large group of free-thinking adults, then who knows what she could have done to the lunar cycle.
 

8. At the end of the movie, when Dani is crying over Binx’s deflated cat body, you can see that he happens to be lying on his sister Emily’s grave.

We couldn’t believe this fun fact ourselves when we first uncovered it. However, if you go back and watch the scene where Dani runs to Binx’s deflated feline form, you can vaguely make out a grave in the background. If you think back to the scenes where Binx is standing on his sister’s grave, you’ll notice that the two are identical. Binx “dying” on his sister’s grave is somewhere between depressing, beautiful, and poetic, wouldn’t you say?
 

9. The man dressed as Satan (who the Sanderson sisters call ‘master’) and his nagging wife are actually brother and sister in real life.

The actors’ names are Garry and Penny Marshall. In fact, they’re both pretty successful Hollywood veterans. Not only are they actors, but they’re also writers and directors as well. For instance, Gary Marshall directed both of the Princess Diaries movies! We just love that they had uncredited cameos in Hocus Pocus as husband and wife. The fact that they’re siblings explains a lot about their dynamic.
 

10. ‘Hocus Pocus’ was originally slated to be a Disney Channel Original Movie.

If Disney executives hadn’t liked the movie, it would have ended up as a DCOM and (arguably) would not have had as much success. While some DCOMs do become pretty big hits (like High School Musical), many are sadly forgotten over time and fall into the literal as well as proverbial Disney vault. In fact, Hocus Pocus may have suffered the fate of Don’t Look Under the Bed or Under Wraps, playing only once a year (if that) at ungodly hours. How sad would that be?
 

11. Sarah Jessica Parker actually sang ‘Come Little Children’ for the movie.

Way to go SJP! We were really excited to learn that she did all of her own singing for this movie. It just makes her performance more real and more believable, you know? We personally dislike when directors have their characters sing in the film but then have a professional singer or voice actor come in and record their voices instead. Not that we can really notice most of the time. It’s more of a pet peeve. So yay Hocus Pocus!
 

12. Bette Midler considers Winifred Sanderson her favorite role to date.

This coming from a woman who has given a number of insanely popular and critically acclaimed performances in her lifetime. We can definitely see how Winifred Sanderson would be her favorite character to play. The witch is nothing short of awesome (if you disregard her hunger for young spirits, wicked temper, and slight mean streak). It’s great to see an actor love a fun character as much as the public does.
 

13. ‘Hocus Pocus’ is the best Halloween movie of all time.

Okay, so we admit that this may be more opinion than actual fact, but it feels true doesn’t it? What other Halloween movie is so beloved by people from all over the world? We know from personal experience that this movie is especially popular among college students that grew up with it. It’s just not October or Halloween without seeing Hocus Pocus at least five times and quoting the entire movie with friends. If one thing is for sure, it’s that we’ll be in love with this movie for the rest of our lives. We can’t wait for future generations to discover its (black) magic.
 
Thanks to TooFab, Geeks of Doom, and Thought Catalog. Check out their pages for more fun Hocus Pocus facts!