Emmy Award-winning actress and writer Tina Fey appears set to develop a supernatural comedy about witchcraft at Disney. However, studio insiders have been quick to point out that the project is not a sequel to the 1993 cult favorite Hocus Pocus, which had been widely and inaccurately reported across the web in recent weeks. That film, which starred Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy as a trio of witches who wage terror on a group of kids one Halloween night, has had the murmurings of sequel for some time. The story picked up credence when Fey’s name started being mentioned in conjunction with the possible sequel, but it appears to have all just been a rumor.
Instead, today we get news that Fey is working on an original supernatural comedy similar in tone to Ghostbusters, in which she will star and produce. Allison Shearmur, producer of Disney’s upcoming live-action take on Cinderella with Cate Blanchett, will work alongside Fey in producing the film that for now is known only as Untitled Witch Project. The plot details are under wraps and thus far no news has been unveiled as to who will direct, write, or star in the feature. However Fey, who wrote the screenplay to the 2004 hit Mean Girls and earned a Writers Guild Nomination for her efforts in the process, seems a likely candidate to write the script herself.
Fey was most recently featured in the Disney film Muppets Most Wanted and will soon appear in the family dramedy This Is Where I Leave You opposite Jason Bateman, Corey Stoll, and Jane Fonda. She is currently filming the comedy The Nest from Pitch Perfect director Jason Moore, which co-stars former Saturday Night Live colleague and Golden Globe Awards hosting cohort Amy Poehler. That feature, in which Fey and Poehler star as sisters who decide to throw one last party before their parents sell their family home, is expected to arrive in theaters in December of 2015. Fey is also attached to produce (and possibly star) in The Taliban Shuffle, a true story of a female journalist and her encounters while reporting in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (Bad Santa, Crazy Stupid Love) are attached to direct, but there’s no word yet on when filming is set to start or when that film is expected to be released.