Sandra Bullock
Sandra Bullock

NEW YORK — Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman sat down with "Today" host Hoda Kotb this week to discuss their reunion for "Practical Magic 2," reflecting on their decadeslong friendship, the challenges of parenting teenagers, and how their perspective on the original 1998 film has shifted over the nearly three decades since its release.

The sequel, which reunites the two Oscar winners in their original roles as witchy sisters Sally and Gillian Owens, arrives in theaters Sept. 10. Kotb teased the interview ahead of its broadcast, sharing a photo from the taping alongside the two actresses.

"I mean... how fun is this?! Sandra and Nicole together again!" Kotb wrote on Instagram, adding, "Can't wait for you to see our conversation soon! PS sandra said — sit on my lap—- so i hovered."

The Tuesday broadcast, part of a segment called "Making Space," centered heavily on lessons the two actresses have learned around caregiving and raising teenagers, along with what it means to redefine family and public expectations on their own terms as they've each grown older in the public eye.

Beyond the "Today" interview itself, both actresses have spoken extensively in recent press appearances about how their relationship with the original "Practical Magic" has evolved. When the film first released in 1998, it received mixed reviews and posted only a modest box office performance. In the years since, it has grown into a cult favorite, discovered by a new generation of fans largely through social media clips, a shift both actresses say has fundamentally changed how they view the project.

Bullock reflected on how cultural attitudes toward the film's central theme, witchcraft, have shifted since its original release.

"A witch has always been a negative connotation. It was presented that way," Bullock said. "The word is being taken back, and there's ownership of it from the community saying, 'I'm a witch and I'm proud.'"

For Kidman, the film's unexpected second life has become something deeply personal, shaped by repeated encounters with fans who cite the movie as a favorite.

"People started just coming into my life who would go, 'You want to know what my favorite film of yours is? Practical Magic.' And suddenly I was like, 'What? Wow, OK,'" Kidman said.

In preparing for the sequel, Bullock said she took a deliberate step to better understand how a younger generation connects with the material, sitting down with her own children and their friends to rewatch the original film together.

"I wanted fresh eyes," Bullock said. "Because we were embarking on the new chapter, the new baby witches coming in. I wanted to understand it from a point of view I didn't have. I wanted to see what they had to say."

In a separate conversation with People, the two actresses discussed why now, roughly 28 years after the original film, felt like the right moment to finally bring the sequel to the screen.

"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," Bullock said. "Which is, we forget that our mothers and grandmothers were young women with dreams and hopes and desires as well."

Kidman agreed, describing the depth of trust and support the two actresses have continued to lean on throughout their careers and personal lives.

"Yes. This time around, we got to share things," Bullock said, with Kidman adding that the two have become "each other's life raft."

Toward the end of the "Today" interview, the conversation took a lighter turn when Bullock pressed Kotb for details about a personal connection of her own. Bullock had watched an earlier episode of "Today With Jenna & Sheinelle," in which Kotb revealed she had met a man on a flight and had recently reconnected with him. Bullock, having seen that earlier segment, pushed Kotb for further updates on the "handsome" mystery man during the taping, turning the interview's focus briefly back onto the host herself.

The reunion between Kidman and Bullock traces back years before the sequel's production ever began. Speaking at the Season 2 premiere of her Hulu series "Nine Perfect Strangers" prior to the sequel's official announcement, Kidman revealed that she and Bullock had discussed the possibility of a follow-up film even while making the original in the late 1990s.

"When we were making it, we definitely did," Kidman said at the time, of thinking about a potential sequel. "We're so excited. Yes, yes, beyond excited. You heard our spell. We put out our spell already."

"Practical Magic 2" is directed by Susanne Bier, working from a screenplay by Akiva Goldsman, who also co-wrote the original 1998 film. Both movies draw from the work of author Alice Hoffman, with the original based on her 1995 novel "Practical Magic," while the sequel takes inspiration from her 2021 follow-up novel, "The Book of Magic," which expands the story of the Owens family. The new film introduces Joey King and Maisie Williams as the next generation of Owens women, while also honoring the original film's beloved supporting cast, including Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest, who played the sisters' aunts in the first movie.

As producers on the sequel, Bullock and Kidman also navigated the practical challenges of mounting a legacy sequel decades after the original, balancing the demands of honoring a beloved cult classic with the realities of production budgets and audience expectations nearly three decades removed from the source material's initial, more muted reception.

With "Practical Magic 2" set to hit theaters Sept. 10, the promotional tour has offered both actresses an extended opportunity to reflect publicly on their enduring friendship, their shared experience raising teenagers, and the unlikely journey that transformed a modestly received 1998 romantic fantasy film into a beloved franchise now warranting a long-awaited return nearly 28 years later.

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