A New Bewitched Movie Is In The Works From Sony Pictures

Bewitched is one of those classic sitcoms that lives forever in the cultural consciousness. Even younger audiences who never watched the classic show starring Elizabeth Montgomery are familiar with her iconic nose twitch. This is due in part to the numerous remakes that the series has seen over the years, primarily as feature films. Now a new remake of Bewitched is headed our way, with a movie adaptation from Sony Pictures. 12 Monkeys writers Terry Matalas and Travis Fickett are onboard to bring the new Bewitched movie to life.

Bewitched Was A Milestone For Its Time

Image via ABC

Bewitched has a simple enough premise that revolves around a young married couple living in suburbia. The twist is that the wife is secretly a witch. And her attempt to hide her powers from her nosy neighbors leads to all sorts of comedic shenanigans. A silly premise to be sure. But one that undoubtedly shifted the persistently negative mindset that Americans long held about witchcraft. The series was also a milestone for feminism in the media, with Samantha’s portrayal as an intelligent and powerful woman constrained by her husband’s (and society’s) desire to put her into a role that is unsuited for her. The series often subverted expectations around gender roles, witchcraft, advertising, and consumerism. The original Bewitched sitcom was also highly popular, running for 8 seasons on ABC from 1964 to 1972.

A New Bewitched Movie Follows Previous Attempts

Image via Columbia Pictures

The last Bewitched remake came out in 2005 starring Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell in a highly underrated movie that was written and directed by the late great Nora Ephron. That film was a bit of meta work wherein Ferrell’s character is trying to get a Bewitched remake off the ground and casts a real (secret) witch in the leading role. Of course most recently Bewitched saw another meta adaptation in the first episodes of WandaVision, where our magical protagonist channeled Samantha and her famous nose twitch.

There was also a television reboot of Bewitched in the works over at ABC a couple of years ago. That reboot was pitched by Kenya Barris – the creators of the hit show black-ish and was set to star an interracial family. Unfortunately ABC passed on the project, making our dreams of a black woman playing Samantha come to naught.

The enduring legacy of Bewitched is one that still influences film and television today. So we are looking forward to learning more about this new movie remake of Bewitched coming from Sony Pictures. Stay tuned to Comic Years on Facebook and Twitter today to stay up to date on all of your genre news!

Emily O'Donnell is a writer and photographer with roots in some of the earliest online fandoms. She cut her genre teeth on the Wizard of Oz books at the tender age of 6 years old, and was reading epic adult fantasy novels by the age of 10. Decades later, she still consumes genre fiction like there is no tomorrow. She is delighted to be living through the golden age of sci-fi and fantasy popularity. She is unashamed of the amount of fanfiction that still lingers online under her name.