Rotten Tomatoes odds point to "Rotten" for Practical Magic 2 as embargo lifts

Kalshi traders aren't casting a “Fresh” spell on the Tomatometer score for the upcoming sequel Practical Magic 2.

As the review embargo comes to an end, Kalshi’s market now forecasts a 40.6% Tomatometer score, putting the sequel firmly in “Rotten” territory.

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The sequel reunites the original cast of the witchy rom-com, including Nicole Kidman, Sandra Bullock, Dianne Wiest, and Stockard Channing. Susanne Bier, the director behind films like “Bird Box” and the TV miniseries “The Undoing,” takes directing duties from original filmmaker Griffin Dunne.

This time, the Owens sisters are older but not necessarily wiser. Sally (Bullock) has been through two marriages, the last of which ended when her husband passed away. Sally decides to put her romantic life on hold and casts a spell that makes her daughters, Kylie (Joey King) and Antonia (Maisie Williams), forget they come from a coven of witches. Then Kylie’s boyfriend (Xolo Maridueña) suffers a critical injury, and Gillian (Kidman) steps in to convince Sally to remind her children of their witchy heritage. The revelation creates a rift between mother and daughter that even magic may not be able to repair.

Adrian Horton of The Guardian gave the movie three out of five stars and wrote that the sequel to the cult classic rom-com does an effective job of bridging the gap between the original film and the new themes it explores with new characters.

“There’s no circumventing nostalgia bait, but Practical Magic remains so idiosyncratic in tone and, well, kookiness, that a sequel somewhat appeals,” Horton wrote.

The Daily Beast’s Nick Schager wrote that the plot is messy but praised the continued chemistry between Kidman and Bullock. He also praised several of the new cast members.

“It’s superior to the first Practical Magic, whose mix of paranormal hijinks, rah-rah sibling drama, and domestic-abuse suspense was all-too-frequently unholy,” Schager wrote. “Enhanced by Bier’s sturdy widescreen visuals and her headliners’ solid turns, it boasts a confidence and competence that compensates for its nagging shortcomings.”

Negative reviews currently outnumber positive ones, with the film holding a 34% Tomatometer score. The review embargo lifted Tuesday at noon ET, and the score is likely to keep shifting as more reviews are published.

Variety’s Todd Gilchrist argued that the sequel struggles to find new territory and relies too heavily on recapturing the appeal of the original film. He also criticized Bullock and Kidman's performances, writing that their characters appear to have experienced little growth since the first film.

“As if fighting the possibility of pain by not having emotions at all, Bullock’s expression barely changes for the first half of the film, while Kidman leans aggressively into playing Gillian as an overindulged younger sibling who’s chosen to ignore decades of life experience,” Gilchrist wrote.  

Empire’s Leila Latif gave the movie two out of five stars. Latif found some charm in the performances and the characters' relationships but criticized the sequel for relying too heavily on ideas from the original.

“The original understood romantic love was only one ingredient in the potion; its real fantasy lay in sisters, aunts, and daughters building a strange, unruly world together,” Latif wrote. “Decades later, when women, witches, and sequels can be anything, it’s dispiriting to find so little imagination in what their lives might become.”

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