‘Practical Magic’ Recap Everything to Remember From the Owens Sisters’ Story Before the Sequel Arrives

Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman are back in theaters as the Owens sisters, and for many viewers the timing has sparked a natural question about what actually happened in the original ‘Practical Magic’ before jumping into the follow up. The 1998 film has quietly built a devoted following over the past two decades, and its return to cultural conversation makes this a good moment to walk through the story from the beginning.

Revisiting the original also helps explain why this particular reunion means so much to longtime fans. Bullock and Kidman have never shared the big screen together in any other project, which makes their onscreen chemistry as sisters feel especially rare and specific to this story.

The Owens Sisters Curse and Family Origins

The film opens with a look back at the Owens family history, and the curse at the center of everything traces back three centuries. Aunt Frances and Aunt Jet explain to young Sally and Gillian that their ancestor Maria Owens survived an attempted execution for witchcraft, then accidentally cursed her own descendants when she cast a spell meant to protect herself from ever loving again after being abandoned. From that point forward, any man loved by an Owens woman is fated to die young.

That backstory sets up the household the sisters grow up in. After their father dies and their mother is left heartbroken, Sally and Gillian are raised by their aunts in the family’s old Massachusetts home. The girls become outcasts at school and face relentless bullying from classmates because of their family’s reputation.

As adults, the sisters take very different approaches to their inheritance. Sally grows into a cautious, grounded woman who wants nothing to do with witchcraft, while Gillian embraces a more adventurous, impulsive lifestyle that eventually pulls her into real danger. That contrast becomes the emotional engine of everything that follows.

Jimmy Angelov and Gary Hallet Complicate the Sisters’ Lives

The plot turns when Gillian gets involved with a man named Jimmy Angelov, described in cast records as an abusive alcoholic with a violent streak. Gillian begins a relationship with Jimmy in Orlando, and after Sally is devastated by the death of her own husband, Gillian drugs Jimmy so the two of them can return home to Massachusetts. The reunion does not go smoothly.

Once Jimmy becomes abusive again, the situation escalates quickly. The sisters are kidnapped, and Sally ends up putting belladonna into Jimmy’s tequila, which inadvertently kills him. Rather than call the authorities, the sisters attempt to resurrect Jimmy using magic, but the spell goes wrong and injects his corpse with an evil spirit that threatens the entire family line.

The aftermath brings a second man into the story, and this one is far less threatening. State investigator Gary Hallet arrives from Tucson, Arizona to search for the missing Jimmy, who turns out to also be a wanted serial killer. As Gary’s suspicion of Sally grows, the family tries to use magic to push him away, only to realize he actually fits the description from a protection spell Sally once cast for herself.

That twist gives the film its romantic throughline even as the darker plot with Jimmy’s spirit continues to build in the background. Sally has to decide whether to trust a man who is actively investigating her, all while hiding what really happened in her own backyard.

How Practical Magic’s Ending Resolves the Curse

The climax hinges on Jimmy’s spirit refusing to stay buried. His spirit eventually possesses Gillian’s body, and despite the Owens family being ostracized by the town for years because of their witchcraft, Sally gathers the local women into an impromptu coven to attempt an exorcism.

That attempt does not go as planned. When the exorcism ritual starts to harm Gillian as much as it harms Jimmy, Sally stops the ceremony and instead relies on a blood pact the sisters made as children, cutting Gillian’s hand to banish Jimmy for good. With Jimmy’s spirit banished, Sally is finally able to open herself up to love again, while also fully embracing her family’s craft and her bond with her sister.

The film closes on a note of reconciliation rather than lingering horror. ‘Practical Magic’ ends with a Halloween rooftop celebration that leaves the Owens sisters at peace, wrapping up its blend of witchcraft and real world emotion around themes of family, grief, love, and empowerment. That tonal landing, somewhere between cozy fall movie and supernatural rom-com, is part of why the film has aged into a seasonal favorite rather than a straightforward horror story.

Box Office History and the Path to Practical Magic 2

‘Practical Magic’ did not perform especially well when it first hit theaters. The film opened to $13,104,694 during its first weekend and finished with $46,733,235 worldwide against an estimated production budget of $75,000,000. Other tallies put the final worldwide gross closer to $68.3 million against a budget in the $60 to $75 million range, though every account agrees the film failed to break even theatrically.

Critical response at the time was similarly mixed. Rotten Tomatoes notes that the film’s jarring tonal shifts undercut its offbeat premise, though reviewers consistently singled out the chemistry between Kidman and Bullock as reason enough to hope the pair would work together again. That cult reappraisal over the following decades is exactly what has made a sequel commercially viable nearly thirty years later.

The road to that sequel has been in motion for a while. Kidman told Variety in February that the follow up was “moving ahead rapidly,” a comment that lined up with years of fan speculation about whether the sisters would ever return. Both actresses also spoke to Rolling Stone in 2024 for an oral history of the film’s beloved “midnight margaritas” scene, reflecting on how proud they remain of the original despite its rocky theatrical run.

‘Practical Magic 2’ brings Bullock and Kidman back as Sally and Gillian, now joined by the next generation of Owens witches, played by Maisie Williams and Joey King as their daughters. Susanne Bier directs the sequel from a screenplay credited to Akiva Goldsman, Georgia Pritchett, and Kelly Marcel, with a cast that also includes Lee Pace, Stockard Channing, Dianne Wiest, Xolo Maridueña, and Solly McLeod.

Now that the original story is fresh again, from Maria Owens’ original curse to Sally and Gillian’s hard-won peace on that Halloween rooftop, it’s worth asking which parts of that history you most want to see echoed or upended when the new generation of Owens women steps into frame.