September 07, 2018
"Hocus Pocus"/Walt Disney Studios
"Hocus Pocus" debuted in 1993 and has become a Halloween classic.
It may have been 95 degrees yesterday, but Halloween is right around the corner. Case in point: Freeform announced its official schedule for "31 Nights of Halloween." Grab that pumpkin spice latte, your finest scarf, and get ready for one of the best parts of Halloween. It's time to get basic, everyone!
Freeform's 2018 lineup features films such as "The Nightmare Before Christmas," "Hocus Pocus," "The Addams Family," "The Goonies," "The Haunted Mansion," "Warm Bodies," "Dark Shadows," "Hocus Pocus" "Clue," "ParaNorman," "The BoxTrolls," "The Final Girls"…oh, and "Hocus Pocus."Though the most notable premiere in the lineup is the Halloween classic, "The Witches of Eastwick," starring Susan Sarandon, Michelle Pfeiffer, Cher, and Jack Nicolson, the film will premiere on Oct. 22 at 8:20 p.m. Also premiering this year is Disney favorite, "Hotel Transylvania," which will air Oct. 14 at 9 p.m.
But it can't please everyone. Freeform's announcement was met with some backlash as fans poured through in the comments section to discuss the movies they felt were missing. This included films, "I Know What You Did Last Summer," "Corpse Bride," "Edward Scissorhands," and "Practical Magic," among others.
"Beetlejuice," "Casper," and "Sleepy Hollow," former staples of the previous lineups, were the most noticeably missing, according to fans. Freeform confirmed, however, that the network no longer owns the rights to those three films. Also missing from the list? "Harry Potter." In a deal that cost NBCUniversal more than $200 million for exclusive TV rights, Freeform no longer has the rights to those films either.
Despite this, the network has managed to pick out a well-rounded schedule. It may be missing a few classics, but "The Witches of Eastwick" is a nice addition to this year's lineup. Also, 31 action-packed nights of Halloween movies? For Halloween movie lovers, that's definitely better than the original 13 nights.
Follow Virginia & PhillyVoice on Twitter: @vastreva | @thePhillyVoice
Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice
Add Virginia's RSS feed to your feed reader
Have a news tip? Let us know.
