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The month of October brings with it plenty of annual viewing traditions, and chief among them for ’90s kids is the “Halloweentown” franchise. The series launched in 1998 with a Disney Channel Original Movie about a 13-year-old girl who learned that not only did she descend from a line of witches, but there’s actually an entire community called Halloweentown populated by witches, warlocks and all sorts of spooky creatures.

“Halloweentown” played on Disney Channel ad nauseum every October, and eventually spawned three additional sequels. With spooky season in full swing – and with all four movies currently streaming on Disney+ — now is as good a time as any to get straight how to watch the “Halloweentown” movies in order.

“Halloweentown” (1998) Disney

The first “Halloweentown” film sets the stage for all to come. Kimberly J. Brown plays Marnie Piper, an ambitious 13-year-old who learns that her mother Gwen (Judith Hoag) and her grandmother (Debbie Reynolds) are witches,...

It’s that time of year again! The leaves are changing color, the air is getting more relaxed, and Halloween is just around the corner. For many, Halloween is a time to enjoy fright-filled movies and TV shows. But for others, it’s a time to revisit their childhood with the Halloweentown movies.

These family-friendly films follow the adventures of Marnie Piper, a young witch who discovers her heritage and learns to use her powers.

If you’re looking for a fun way to celebrate Halloween this year, why not watch the Halloweentown movies in order?

Based on characters by Paul Bernbaum, The Halloweentown film series aired as works for television on The Disney Channel as Disney Channel Original Movies. To date, there are four fantasy films released in the Halloweentown franchise.

In this blog post, we’ll look at the films in order and provide some fun facts about each one.

1998’s Halloweentown is one of the most beloved Halloween and Disney Channel movies, and is a gift that keeps on giving as new generations discover the film that is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

Starring Kimberly J. Brown, Joey Zimmerman, Judith Hoag and Debbie Reynolds, the film directed by Duwayne Dunham followed Marnie, who on her 13th birthday discovers she’s a witch and is transported to Halloweentown, a magical place that is facing an evil curse. The film spawned three sequels: Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge in 2001, Halloweentown High in 2004 and Return to Halloweentown in 2006.

Halloweentown, written by Paul Bernbaum, Jon Cooksey and Ali Marie Matheson, holds a score of 83 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. You can currently watch Halloweentown on Prime Video or on Disney+. The franchise is also airing as part of Freeform’s “31 Nights of Halloween.”

In celebration of the film’s 25th anniversary, take a look...

‘Tis the season for “chills and thrills” on Freeform.

The network has finalized its milestone 25th anniversary lineup for its 31 Nights of Halloween programming block for the month of October, running from the 1st to the 31st.

Seasonal favorites return like the cult classic Hocus Pocus, starring Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy, courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures and Tim Burton’s beloved The Nightmare Before Christmas courtesy of Touchstone Pictures. The latter title, from director Henry Selick, is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.

The Halloweentown franchise gets a chunk of the lineup with such features as the original 1998 TV movie, starring Debbie Reynolds, Kimberly J. Brown, Joey Zimmerman, Emily Roeske and Judith Hoag, playing alongside Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge, Halloweentown High and Return to Halloweentown. Other major franchises on the lineup include The Twilight Saga, Monsters, Inc., The Addams Family, The Incredibles, Spider-Man, Hotel Transylvania and Twitches.

Being normal is vastly overrated, but re-watching the “Halloweentown” franchise each year certainly is not. Of course, there’s one question that always comes back on those rewatches: why wasn’t Kimberly J. Brown in all of them?

Brown starred as Marnie Piper (though she later embraced her name as a Cromwell witch) in the first three movies in the series. But, after “Halloweentown High,” Sara Paxton took over the role for “Halloweentown Returns,” without any kind of explanation from or preparation by Disney. The move draws outrage from fans to this day, as many millennials considered it a “betrayal.”

So why did it happen? Well, according to Brown herself, she was initially in talks for the fourth film. In a 2018 Q&a video, the actress explained that there were conversations, but she never really found out why they fell apart.

“The answer to that is I’m not really sure,...

"Being normal is vastly overrated." Hollywood legend Debbie Reynolds uttered these very words while playing grandmother witch Agatha "Aggie" Cromwell in the 1998 Disney Channel Original Movie, Halloweentown. In the made-for-tv movie, 13-year-old Marnie Piper (Kimberly J. Brown) learns she's a witch and travels to another world to help grandma Aggie (Reynolds) fight an unknown evil-doer. After debuting on Disney Channel on Oct. 17, 1998, Halloweentown inspired three sequel films, Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge, Halloweentown High and Return to Halloweentown. (Although, die-hard fans don't acknowledge the fourth film due to the Marnie recast. We promise, it isn't personal Sara...

Halloween is nearly upon us, and that means you’re probably looking for some spooky movies and shows to watch to get you in the spirit of the holiday. Of course, it’s easy to find a good slasher flick or psychological horror on various services, but trying to locate such content that’s family-friendly can sometimes be tough. The good news is, though, that you don’t have to look very far at all if you’re a Disney Plus subscriber, as the platform is filled to the brim with plenty of great Halloween stuff for viewers of all ages.

One option you’re certain to be happy to hear about is the 1993 comedy horror Hocus Pocus, which ranks as one of the most timeless Halloween classics of all time – proven further by its huge haul during its theatrical rerelease this year. This tale of a trio of evil...

It’s finally October and every streaming service is making sure subscribers have a lot of suitably spooky content to check out this Halloween. In the case of Disney Plus, the Mouse House’s service has this week launched its “Halloween” collection which collates every single Halloween-related movie, short film and TV special/episode that can be found across the site right now.

Many of your all-time favorite family-friendly Halloween watches are housed in the collection, too, like seasonal mainstays Hocus Pocus and Tim Burton’s A Nightmare Before Christmas. Countless Disney lovers also have a lot of fondness for the Halloweentown films, all four of which can be found on D+. Elsewhere, you can catch Eddie Murphy vehicle The Haunted Mansion, classic animation The Adventures of Ichabod and Toad and the Twitches twosome.

As for the many TV episodes available, there are special Halloween-themed editions of beloved shows like Hannah Montana,...

It may still be over two months until Halloween, but that hasn’t stopped Disney+ from getting in the holiday spirit. A batch of 20 family-friendly horror films have dropped on the streaming service recently, providing you with an abundance of frights to get you gradually geared up for the best night of the year, with a few stand-out entries worth looking out for.

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad is one of many anthology pics Disney released in the ‘40s, and is best remembered as a Boomer equivalent of Watership Down, The Dark Crystal or The NeverEnding Story in the “movies that traumatized children” category. Its first segment is based on classic kids book The Wind in the Willows, but the second, more relevant half adapts Washington Irving’s famous short story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, with its rich but dark animation and foreboding tone and music terrifying many of its young viewers.

Kayti Burt Nov 14, 2019

Wondering which Disney Channel Original Movies have made it onto the Disney+ platform? We've got you covered.

Zoom, zoom, zoom. Make my heart go boom boom. Disney+ is here.

Much of the focus around the launch of Disney's new streaming service platform has been on its flashiest of assets—your Star Wars and your Marvel movies and TV shows. But Disney is a massive media conglomerate with more assets in one of its mouse ears than most media companies have in their whole being. Yes, we're talking about Disney Channel Original Movies (affectionately known as Dcom).

You've got your Zenon (Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century, Zenon: The Zequel, and Zenon: Z3). You've got your High School Musical (the original, High School Musical 2, and Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure). You've got your Luck of the Irish. If you are an older millennial or anyone who enjoys earnest,...

"Halloween is cool."  21 years ago, Halloweentown debuted on Disney Channel, making it one of the network's first original movies. It quickly became an October tradition for legions of fans, inspiring three follow-up movies, including Halloweentown High, which is celebrating its 15th anniversary this weekend. The third film in the franchise, Halloweentown High followed Marnie (Kimberly J. Brown) as she embarked on the mission to bring some of the Halloweentown teens into her real-world high school, all with the help of her beloved grandmother Aggie, played to whimsical perfection by the late Debbie Reynolds.  Given its massive popularity and prime placement on the Disney Channel line-up...

Image Source: Everett Collection

Grab your broomsticks, Dcom-lovers: Marnie Cromwell and her spooky family are here to wish you a Happy Halloween. If you haven't already heard, Disney Channel is hosting a 24-hour live-stream of all the Halloweentown movies on its YouTube channel, like, right now - so you might want to go ahead and clock out of work for the day and get to bingeing.

Each film in the series - Halloweentown, Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge, Halloweentown High, and Return to Halloweentown - will be streaming on a continuous loop until Nov. 1. The live-stream video first made its way to YouTube on Oct. 24, though its description reads that the marathon has been chugging along through the entire month of October.

Related: These Disney Channel Original Halloween Movies Will Make You Scream (With Joy)

Even though we're pretty bummed that we're just now becoming privy to this information, 24 hours is...

Since its original broadcast in October 1998, Disney Channel’s Halloweentown has become an annual staple of the holiday season. The success of the TV film spawned three sequels (both Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge and Halloweentown High were the most-viewed Disney Channel… Continue Reading →

The post The Halloweentown Cast Reunited in Honor of Late Debbie Reynolds appeared first on Dread Central.

No! Don’t run away! Where’s your Halloween spirit? Yes, Halloweentown (1998) is a Disney Channel movie, but that in and of itself isn’t a bad thing; if you’re looking to introduce your kids to horror, it’s better to pitch them some underhands than speedy overhands. (I don’t really know baseball.) In a cynical and bitterly crumbling world, it’s nice to know that a bit of low-key innocent charm still exists.

Originally airing Saturday, October 17th, Halloweentown was a big hit for the channel, and spawned three sequels over the ensuing years. If you’re looking for some smiles, good performances and charming effects, Halloweentown is a fun place to visit.

Let’s open up our mouse eared (insert groan here) TV Guide and see what’s up:

Halloweentown (Saturday, Disney)

An adolescent girl realizes with the help of her grandmother that she’s a...

Johnny Tsunami. Halloweentown. Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century.

If those titles mean anything to you, you’re going to want to read on.

In celebration of its 100th original movie — an upcoming reimagining of the 1987 comedy Adventures in Babysitting — Disney Channel will air every single one of its original flicks from May through June.

VideosAdventures in Babysitting Trailer: Disney Duo Has a Wild Night Out

The nostalgia trip will kick off Memorial Day Weekend, with a marathon of the 51 most popular DCOMs, and will continue throughout the next month with every other original film presented at various times.

Last fall, American Horror Story took viewers to a New Orleans coven and this year the show is transporting fans to a freak show in 1950′s Florida. We’re always excited to see who Ryan Murphy gets to join the cast of American Horror Story each season, and with the bulk of American Horror Story: Freak Show‘s main cast already set, a new addition to the show has been announced.

Ryan Murphy announced via Twitter yesterday that Finn Wittrock has joined the cast of American Horror Story: Freak Show. Wittrock played Albert in Murphy’s 2013 movie adaption of Larry Kramer’s play, The Normal Heart. The actor also had a recurring role on Showtime’s Masters of Sex TV series and played Cody in 2004′s Halloweentown High.

It’s unknown at this time what character Wittrock will play, but American Horror Story has a panel this Saturday night at...

2008 was a banner year for Lucas Grabeel as he shined in High School Musical, The Adventures of Food Boy and even had a part in College Road Trip acting with fellow Disney stars Raven-Symone and Brenda Song. These days the charismatic actor is testing out new roles that push limits such as the acclaimed short The Real Son. Brent Geisler has had the privilege and experience to work with some of Hollywood's finest through his years as an assistant director. He has been nominated three times for Directors Guild awards and is in the process of developing two major motion pictures. Brent's new movie Dadnapped is set to come out this year starring Emily Osment, Jason Earles, Moises Arias and Jennifer Stone. Kelly King began working in the business as a Pa and soon met Lucas Grabeel on the set of Halloweentown High. The two hit it off immediately and...

Lucas Grabeel was born on November 23, 1984 to Stephen and Jean Grabeel in Springfield, Missouri. He has an older sister, Autumn. He was always interested in performing and even at a very young age, he and his sister would entertain their parents and friends with short skits, commercials and plays. School was always important to Lucas. He attended Logan-Rogersville Elementary and Middle Schools (Rogersville High School), and then Kickapoo High School in Springfield, Missouri - as well as attending the Missouri Fine Arts Academy. In school he was a very good speaker on his feet and took 5th place in the Mshsaa Speech & Debate Championships in 2003. He also participated in all of the school’s theatrical productions - beginning with his sixth grade performance in The Secret Garden. He was in eight different school productions before graduating. In addition, he was also involved with the Y.E.S. Troup in his area.