“Hi-de-hi!” Nicole Kidman bellows, as if delivering a cheerful wake-up incantation.

She’s the last to join an early-morning video call that has also summoned Sandra Bullock, Joey King and Maisie Williams, the stars of “Practical Magic 2.”

The session is off to a chaotic start as they update one another on their recent activities: Kidman has just returned from a balmy outdoor walk. Bullock is caring for her dog, who has pancreatitis. King spent the previous night helping her mother recover from dental surgery. Williams is experimenting with a new retinol routine.

Nevertheless, Kidman joked, it’s time for “breakfast with the witches.”

In the 1998 original, she and Bullock (pre-Oscar glory) played Gillian and Sally Owens, the witchy sisters whose family is afflicted by a generational curse that kills any man they love. The genre-bending film was largely ridiculed by critics. The Times review described it as “Barbie Joins a Coven” and “a bouncy, bubble-brained movie.”

Yet, in the decades since, the tale has found a passionate fan base that spans generations.

Now, Bullock, 62, and Kidman, 59, have reprised their roles in “Practical Magic 2” (in theaters Sept. 11).

The sequel, directed by Susanne Bier, follows the fourth book in Alice Hoffman’s “Practical Magic” series and sees King, 27, and Williams, 29, play Sally’s daughters, Kylie and Antonia (portrayed as children in the first film by Evan Rachel Wood and Alexandra Artrip). This time, the Owens women — including the wise great-aunts (Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest) — try to destroy the family curse for good after Kylie’s boyfriend has a tragic accident.

“I hate the term ‘chick flick,’ and they’re going to go, Oh, it’s a chick flick,” Bullock said. “But the matriarchy, whether it is by blood or by love, has never been valued to the degree that it has to be valued.”

These are edited excerpts from the stars’ lively conversation.

What were your reactions when you first heard a sequel could be a possibility?

SANDRA BULLOCK Well, we made the sequel happen. No one told us. We pushed that boulder uphill.

NICOLE KIDMAN But I think it was always percolating, wasn’t it, Sandy? Like, for years?

BULLOCK No, not for me. It was not on my radar at all. Look, the first time we came out, the reception was — no one was ready for that. So, I didn’t even imagine it. Then over the decades, we realized the story resonated with an audience that got to find each other. Never in a million years did I think we would do a sequel or I’d want to do it. I was like, God, why would we repeat that? We were eviscerated. Then the world changed, and the conversation changed.

When did you start noticing that new appreciation?

BULLOCK Joey, Maisie, do you want to answer?

JOEY KING That’s about “P.M. 1.”

KIDMAN “P.M.” sounds like “premenstrual.” [All laugh]

BULLOCK And we were! There were dangerous days with all those women.

KING In terms of the momentum, I first saw the movie when I was 10 on DVD in my mom’s minivan. That was 11 years after the movie came out, but it was so spoken about, almost as if it had just been released. It was one of my mom’s favorite movies. It was one of my oldest sister’s favorite movies. My grandma loved this movie. It’s a testament to that second, third, fourth life this movie has had.

MAISIE WILLIAMS I watched it with my sister at my mum’s house when I was a kid. I wasn’t someone that rewatched it a lot. I’m sorry, girls. But I’ve always had stills from the movies coming up in fashion decks or my own mood boards. The imagery from the first movie has been so inspiring.

Did any of you have reservations about touching something that had become so beloved?

BULLOCK You want to honor the first one but make the second one stand alone for those who have never seen the first. Alice wrote a book that has so much metaphoric storytelling. It’s really paralleling what is happening now in our world. There were things we got to say this time that everyone was a little nervous to say the first time around.

Like what?

BULLOCK We had so many tones [in the first film], and one of the tones was an abusive relationship. People were very afraid. They’d go, Let’s make light of it and make it more entertaining. We had one preview that was just dismal because it was too dark, and we had to pare back. People weren’t ready for it. This [sequel], it was almost like, go as dark as you possibly can. You have to lean into the horror to make the bliss that much more beautiful.

Sandra and Nicole, do you remember how you first met?

BULLOCK No. Somehow we didn’t meet, we just were in a movie together and bonded.

KIDMAN We met many lifetimes ago.

BULLOCK I remember the discussion with Denise [Di Novi, a producer] and Griffin [Dunne, the first film’s director], and we were like, Do you think we could get Nicole Kidman? Because I think you were still on “Eyes Wide Shut.” Then poof, we were on set together.

KIDMAN It’s magic. I just remember having so much fun because we seemed to party a bit on that film. We had the salsa dancing. We had the party at my house.

BULLOCK You cannot say you partied at the salsa club.

KIDMAN [Laughs] I didn’t. I watched you!

BULLOCK She sat in the corner.

KIDMAN We do need to do that again at some point.

KING Sandy and I can hook up some clubs. I’ve got a great Latin club in L.A. that I love.

WILLIAMS Let’s do it!

BULLOCK That was pre-children.

It was pre-camera phones, too.

BULLOCK Thank the Lord Jesus. The stuff I got away with, oh, my God. I remember when the first flip camera phone came out, I went, This can’t be legal. No one’s allowed to just film you.

KING Now, people are wearing [expletive] glasses.

BULLOCK The Meta glasses! Stop. I have a child who can spot them a mile away. I’m like, I’m taking you everywhere.

What representations of witches and magic in pop culture first resonated with you?

BULLOCK I don’t like the “W” word.

WILLIAMS This is interesting, Sandra, because my connotations with the word “witch” are so flattering. Throughout history, when women have been accused of being witches, it’s typically very powerful women who become a threat to the patriarchy. Now, this term has become almost the most seductive thing to me and my friends. It feels like you’re on the right path and doing something karmically linked to the women around you. I feel proud to be a little witchy and the power that comes with that.

KING Damn!

BULLOCK I was raised by women who were incredibly powerful and ahead of their time, but they had to keep things secret. I still have some of that. Should I say that? Should I not say that? I don’t fly the flag as bravely as Maisie does, but I hope I live it by example. My daughter has no fear, which scares the living crap out of me. She was born that way and maybe a little percentage is that I’m raising her to continue to be that person and not to dim the light. Hopefully, each generation will have a little more power to break the old constraints.

Nicole, your eyes lit up when I asked about magic in pop culture. Was there something that spoke to you at a young age?

KIDMAN I grew up with “Bewitched,” and I wanted to be an astronaut or a witch. I had to change schools when I was 5, and I was miserable. I would sit in the playground eating my lunch and try to work on my magic skills.

BULLOCK I can just see that child!

KIDMAN I was alone with no friends. I was like, all I have to do is concentrate, and I’ll be able to turn the teacher into a donkey. I really had drunk the Kool-Aid, thinking, I can do it, and it came out of loneliness and feeling ostracized. I was like, how do I hone my magic?

Now, you tell everyone, “We come to this place for magic” in your AMC ad, which has become its own phenomenon.

KING Oh, my God, it’s the most iconic thing in the world. Every time I go to the movies, there is someone saluting. I’m part of the claps and woos. It’s a testament to Nicole’s power, really.

KIDMAN It’s literally so random. We did it because the head of AMC reached out in Covid and said, “We need help.” I remember thinking, Is this going to work?

BULLOCK It’s pure and emotional. If your heart is in it, inevitably, it finds the audience.

KIDMAN I usually have a baseball cap on when I go to the movies, and if it comes on, I sort of slide down in my chair, and my daughters go, [pointing] “That’s her!” It’s crazy how the most unexpected things connect.

I want to touch on the concept of midnight margaritas, which are an Owens family tradition in the films.

BULLOCK That was all Griffin Dunne. We’re talking about women, but we also need to talk about allies. Griffin never received his flowers for this thing [the original movie]. As a filmmaker, he got put on the stake for it in a lot of ways. And no one ever came back and said, Dude, I’m sorry, what you did was ahead of its time.

Was there talk of him directing the sequel?

BULLOCK I know he would have loved to, but we thought it was incredibly important to have a woman’s voice come in. We couldn’t have made the second one if Griffin hadn’t made the first one and set the tone.

Could we see a “Practical Magic 3”?

BULLOCK Absolutely. It warrants a third.

KIDMAN The biggest frustration was that [the sequel] couldn’t be longer and have more story lines. There were so many tangents we could have gone off on.

BULLOCK The material is there.

KIDMAN And the house is still there.

[The exterior of the Owens’ house was a set constructed on San Juan Island, Wash., for the first film and on a Warner Bros. backlot in England for the sequel.]

BULLOCK We rebuilt it the second time. We’ll rebuild it the third time.

KIDMAN There’s something extraordinary about that house, actually, in terms of what it represents — the idea that a family can still come back to their base. It’s not realistic for a lot of families, but when you see it onscreen, it’s very aspirational.

KING The romantic idea of being able to come home, even when your lives take you elsewhere, coming home to your sisters, sleeping in the same bed.

KIDMAN My sister and I have a huge number of children between us, and we have the vision of living in a house together, giving advice and passing the baton. We own a house in Australia that is reminiscent of what this house is. It has verandas, and it has love and food and memories attached to it. So, this is kind of my story, in the weirdest way.