Nicole Kidman was never going to miss the chance to surprise a packed cinema of Practical Magic superfans by personally delivering the cult favourite’s sequel.
“It’s lovely, 28 years on, as women, to still be here,” she told a crowd of cheering fans in Sydney on Friday night.
“Thank you for your decades upon decades of support, I love you.”
Kidman quietly slipped into town after attending Practical Magic 2 premieres in London and Los Angeles.
On Friday evening at Hoyts Entertainment Quarter, the Academy Award-winner was whisked into a preview screening packed with superfans, competition winners and content creators.
Wearing a ruched white gown with a neck scarf, fringed hem and floral border, Kidman toasted the crowd with one of the original movie’s famous “midnight margaritas”, clinking glasses with fans in the front row and blowing kisses to the wider crowd.
Practical Magic 2 officially opens in cinemas on Thursday, reuniting Kidman, fellow Oscar-winner Sandra Bullock, and industry legends Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing from the 1998 original.
“Sandy (Bullock) says ‘hi’, she’s in Texas … but I’m here in Sydney with you,” Kidman told the gathering on Friday, after revealing her youngest daughter, Faith, was amongst the throng of admirers gathered at the Sydney screening.
The new film introduces Joey King and Maisie Williams to the franchise, in which Kidman and Bullock play witch sisters, Sally and Gillian Owens.
This time round, the siblings embark on a new adventure confronting a dark curse threatening the family.
Kidman’s friend and journalist Angela Bishop treated guests to the in-cinema question-and-answer session with the superstar Australian.
“She is really proud of Practical Magic 2,” Bishop told The Telegraph.
“She is proud of the fact that (in 1998) they made a film with four women that was really out of the box, really unheard, nearly three decades later they’ve made a brilliant film with six women across three generations and it is exactly what audiences want and need right now.”
Kidman and Bishop first met on the set of BMX Bandits, when Kidman was the main star and Bishop an extra.
“Australia nurtures Nicole and she never takes that for granted,” Bishop said.