“Halloweentown 5” In Development For Disney+

After the huge success of the revival of popular Halloween-themed Disney films like “Hocus Pocus” and “Under Wraps”, the next iconic franchise to return to Disney+ and the Disney Channel is “Halloweentown”.

The original film was released back in 1998 on the Disney Channel and followed Marnie and her younger siblings as they follow their estranged grandmother—a good witch (Debbie Reynolds)—to her home in Halloweentown, where witches, goblins, vampires and the like lead very normal lives. On her 13th birthday, Marnie learns that she comes from a witch family and that she, too, is a witch. When she discovers that an evil force is plotting to take over Halloweentown, she must help her mother and grandmother save the day.

Three more sequels followed in 2001, 2004 and 2006, but now over twenty years later, Disney will return to Halloweentown.  According to The Wrap, early development is now underway on a fifth instalment, with Lily Houghton and Ryan Koehn writing a script for the film. Lily has previously worked on “Forbidden Fruits” and the upcoming Netflix series, “The Body”. Ryan has worked on “Gossip Girl” and “The Mad Whale”.

Very little information, such as who might star in it, who might direct it or when production is set to begin, has been revealed, but hopefully it won’t be too long until it arrives on Disney+ and the Disney Channel.

So far, the “Halloweentown” franchise has pulled in over 160 million hours globally on Disney+ to date, and each year, the original film is one of the top ten films watched during the Halloween period.

It doesn’t seem like a huge surprise to once again see Disney return to a popular franchise, especially since the original film pulls in so many repeat viewers each year, and it’s easier for them to take something that works and redo it than do something fresh.  It’s been over twenty years since the last film, so it’s not like they’ve overdone this franchise and hopefully will pull in not just a new generation of fans, but also bring back fans of the original. 

While we wait for the new “Halloweentown” film, the previous four movies are available to stream on Disney+.

What do you think of the return of “Halloweentown”? Let me know on social media!