Britney Spears’ “…Baby One More Time” was only two weeks old. Stacy Ferguson was still singing with Wild Orchid. And when Practical Magic premiered in Los Angeles in October 1998, Nicole Kidman was nowhere near the red carpet.
Kidman was in London performing in David Hare’s The Blue Room, leaving Sandra Bullock to represent the Owens sisters at the Oct. 13 premiere. Bullock did not arrive alone, her parents, Helga and John Bullock, joined her for the night.
The guest list around them now reads like a late-’90s Hollywood time capsule. Matthew McConaughey showed up in a tan leather coat and jeans, Mariska Hargitay wore red, and LeAnn Rimes, Jenna Elfman and Ferguson, years before her Black Eyed Peas breakthrough as Fergie, were among the familiar faces photographed there. PEOPLE’s newly revisited photos also capture cast members including Stockard Channing, Evan Rachel Wood and Aidan Quinn.
At the time, nobody on that carpet knew the movie would spend the following decades growing into a cult favorite. Now Bullock and Kidman are back together as Sally and Gillian Owens in Practical Magic 2, making those old premiere photographs look less like forgotten publicity shots and more like the beginning of a story Hollywood unexpectedly returned to.
Bullock Brought Her Parents, but Kidman Was Across the Atlantic
Bullock arrived at the Century City premiere in a fitted black Dolce & Gabbana dress with a squared neckline and corset-style waist. Her mother, German-born opera singer Helga Bullock, and father, John Bullock, were photographed beside her at the event.
Kidman’s absence had nothing to do with the movie. She was appearing opposite Iain Glen in The Blue Room at London’s Donmar Warehouse, where the production ran from September through the end of October.
The David Hare play, directed by Sam Mendes, gave Kidman and Glen five characters each in a series of interconnected encounters. It had already become one of London’s most talked-about theatrical productions, and two days after the Practical Magic premiere, plans for its Broadway transfer were publicly reported.
Vogue’s look back at the premiere describes Bullock’s little black dress as quintessential late-’90s style, alongside Stockard Channing’s leather coat and Mariska Hargitay’s fitted red top and embellished skirt.
Matthew McConaughey Was There and He Wasn’t the Only Unexpected Guest
The carpet included plenty of people who had nothing to do with the Owens family. Matthew McConaughey arrived in a tan leather coat, dark shirt and straight-leg jeans, while Rosanna Arquette, Christopher McDonald, Jenna Elfman, Lori Petty and teenage country star LeAnn Rimes were also photographed at the premiere.
So was Stacy Ferguson. In 1998, she was still a member of the pop trio Wild Orchid, which had released its second album, Oxygen, that year. Her Black Eyed Peas breakthrough and the period when Fergie became a household name was still several years away.
Mariska Hargitay’s appearance is another reminder of the timing. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit had not yet premiered, meaning the role of Olivia Benson that would define much of her career was still in the future.
Some of the film’s younger participants look equally striking in retrospect. Evan Rachel Wood, who played Sally’s daughter Kylie, was 11 years old. Director Griffin Dunne attended with his daughter Hannah, while Aidan Quinn, who played Gary Hallet, brought his wife, Elizabeth Bracco.
The Movie They Were Celebrating Hadn’t Become a Cult Favorite Yet
@warnerbrosIt’s official… Practical Magic 2 is coming!♬ original sound – Warner Bros.
Practical Magic opened theatrically three days after the premiere, on Oct. 16, 1998. Griffin Dunne’s film paired Bullock and Kidman as Sally and Gillian Owens, sisters descended from a family of witches whose romantic lives are shadowed by a generations-old curse.
Its initial reception gave little indication that Hollywood would be returning to the Owens family nearly three decades later. Bullock recently recalled that the film was “absolutely eviscerated” in reviews and said she came away feeling as though she had done something wrong.
The audience relationship changed later. Bullock told Jennifer Aniston in Interview that social media helped people communicate why they loved the movie, with mothers watching it with daughters who eventually introduced it to another generation.
That long afterlife ultimately created room for the sequel. Bullock said the idea resurfaced when she began thinking about what another Practical Magic could say through Sally’s grown daughters and contacted original producer Denise Di Novi.
Bullock and Kidman Finally Get to Share the Premiere Era This Time
The circumstances around Practical Magic 2 could hardly look more different. Bullock and Kidman are both back as Sally and Gillian and also serve as producers on the sequel.
Warner Bros.’ official film site lists Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest among the other returning stars. Joey King, Lee Pace, Maisie Williams, Xolo Maridueña and Solly McLeod join the cast, with Susanne Bier directing.
Unlike in 1998, Kidman has been fully present for the sequel’s promotional run alongside Bullock. The two appeared together at the London premiere in August and have spent the release campaign discussing both the original film and the friendship that survived long after it.
Practical Magic 2 opens in North American theaters Sept. 10, 2026, almost 28 years after Bullock walked the first film’s Los Angeles carpet without her onscreen sister.