Nicole Kidman gave Sydney moviegoers a little Practical Magic they definitely weren't expecting. The Oscar winner made a surprise appearance at a HOYTS screening Friday night, returning to her hometown to introduce Practical Magic 2 to an unsuspecting crowd. Talk about making a movie night suddenly much more magical. The long-awaited sequel arrives in Australian cinemas September 10, 28 years after Kidman and Sandra Bullock first played witchy sisters Gilly and Sally Owens in the 1998 original.
Directed by Susanne Bier, the new film brings the Owens sisters back for another supernatural family crisis. The official description promises a return to "a world steeped in moonlit mischief and powerful ancestral magic," as the sisters face a curse threatening their family. Kidman and Bullock reprise their roles alongside Joey King, Lee Pace, Maisie Williams, Xolo Maridueña and Solly McLeod. Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest also return as the sisters' beloved aunts, Frances and Jet.
The sequel finds Sally raising adult daughters while Gilly enjoys a quieter life with her black cat - until a mysterious assignment pulls the sisters out of their cozy New England lives. Based on Alice Hoffman's 2021 novel The Book of Magic, the movie reunites the franchise nearly three decades after its debut.
Kidman's hometown surprise comes as she prepares to receive the 2026 Trailblazer Award at the Australian Women's Film Festival on September 22, honoring her decades-long career as an actor, producer and creative force.