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Hocus Pocus Key Art + Illustrated Poster

The spooky season may have come and gone, but our love for that magical time when you carve your pumpkin, throw on your witch hat, and pop in all your favorite Halloween movies continues to live on throughout the year. Spawning two starstuded celebratory specials and a much anticipated and long-demanded sequel set to premier next year exclusively on Disney+, we couldn’t pass up this spooktacular opportunity to design a poster and key art in celebration of our favorite cult classic, Hocus Pocus.

“It’s a full moon tonight. That’s when all the weirdos are out!” -Dani Dennison, Hocus Pocus

Our goal was to create a bewitching poster and eye-catching key art for the highly anticipated sequel set to premier on Disney+.

Scope

Illustration, Print + Packaging

Roles

Illustration

Being big Hocus Pocus fans, we’ve come to the realization that when working on a project you’re personally attached to, it can sometimes be more difficult to come up with new concepts than you’d think. Not for lack of ideas, but because there’s too many ideas! In fact, if we didn’t have a deadline to keep us focused, we would still be making thumbnails for the Hocus Pocus poster, the possibilities are endless. Enough ideas to fill a book of shadows made out of all sorts of ghoulish things? Perhaps. The Sanderson Sisters are the stars of the show. We knew we had to let them steal the spotlight.

Like foraging through the forest for ingredients for a spell, this deep-dive into Hocus Pocus led us to some costume test footage that laid the foundation for our final design choice for the poster. Inspired by the Sanderson Sisters love of performing, we knew we had to take our cues from the sisters dancing in the woods like we saw in some early costume screen tests. From there, the other key art was fairly easy. We let the witches and their tools of the trade: trustee book of spells, and black flame candle, fill out the rest of the key art designs.

Key Art Creation

In its short 28 years, Hocus Pocus has quickly become a Halloween staple and one of the most beloved Halloween movie treats. Nowadays, you can enjoy this oldie but goodie on many devices. With the various imagery from the poster design as well as other key art iterations, we mocked up practical applications of the key art working inside Disney+ screens from the well-visited streaming service and on all the devices you can access it from.

Results

With the poster and key art in place, brooms in hand, and the Black Flame Candle lit, we hope it doesn’t feel like another 300 years for Hocus Pocus to grace our screens. We can only hope we put a spell on you with our art and remember, if you happen to find yourself enchanted under the full moon and hear the whisper of a witches song wafting through the air, remember, it’s just a bunch of Hocus Pocus.