Halloweentown is a 1998 Disney Channel Original Movie that is very popular around Halloween time. Halloweentown was directed by Duwayne Dunham and was the fourth DCOM. The movie was followed by three sequels- Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge, Halloweentown High and Return to Halloweentown.
The film has an 80 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on critic's reviews. Complex Magazine put Halloweentown as number nine on the list of 'The 40 Best Disney Channel Original Movies.' Buzzfeed called the first three movies one of the best things about Halloween.
The franchise stars Kimberly J. Brown and Debbie Reynolds, along with others. Brown, who played the lead character, Marnie, was replaced in the fourth movie by Sarah Paxton. As Halloween approaches and you will be streaming these movies on Disey+, it's fun to see how far these actors have come.
Here's what the cast of the franchise, Halloweentown, is doing now.
10 Kimberly J. Brown
Kimberly J. Brown played the main character, Marnie Piper, in the Halloweentown series. She played the role up until the third movie where she was replaced. Brown has acted in a few other minor roles. Currently, she has a recurring role on General Hospital as Chloe Jennings. The actress also runs an Etsy shop with a friend, where they sell a bunch of items including Halloweentown-themed items. Brown is currently dating Halloweentown II co-star, Daniel Kountz.
9 Debbie Reynolds
Sadly, Debbie Reynolds passed away in 2016, but she was such a big part of this movie that she had to be included. She played Aggie Cromwell, Marnie's magical grandmother, and the most powerful witch in Halloweentown, in the movie series. The Singin' In The Rain star was the first actress cast in the film. "Debbie had decided she wanted to open herself up to doing some television. When we saw the list, we took one look at her name and said, ‘Oh my god, would she really do it? And she did. We never went to anyone else," Sheri Singer, the film’s executive producer, said in an interview with E!.
8 Sara Paxton
Sara Paxton relaced Brown in the last movie, Return To Halloweentown. Many fans were confused at the time and so was the actress. There were rumors that Brown was not available due to scheduling conflicts and because they couldn't agree on how the final film would end, but none of that was true. However, she has said in the past that she was available and desperately wanted to be a part of the final film. However, the creator, Disney and her reps couldn't agree to a deal for thr actress to return.
Paxton has not been in the spotlight that much in recent years, but she is still acting. In fact, she has a movie coming out in 2022 called Blonde where she plays Miss Flynn. The film is a documentary about Marilyn Monroe. When Paxton is not acting, she can be seen at home hanging out with her dog, making Cameos and living a pretty normal life. She recently got married in 2019 to actor Zach Cregger.
7 Emily Roeske
Emily Roeske played Sophie Piper, Marnie's younger sister, in the first three Halloweentown movies and was briefly mentioned in the last one. This could be due to the fact that Roeske retired from acting in 2004 after the third movie. She is currently living a normal life with her husband and four children. The former actress posts videos on TikTok and even went back to Oregon for the Spirit of Halloweentown event to celebrate the movie. She currently teaches mixed martial arts in Surprise, Arizona.
6 Joey Zimmerman
Joey Zimmerman played Dylan Piper, Marnie's brother. He was the only one of the three kids to appear in all four movies. However, despite acting a bit more after the franchise ended, Zimmerman is currently not in show business anymore. His last acting credit was in 2012. If you take a look at his Instagram, Zimmerman is currently enjoying married life to his wife, Becky, whom he married in 2020 and is a photographer and co-creator of the media company ZFO Entertainment.
5 Judith Hoag
Judith Hoag played Gwen Piper, mother of Marnie, Dylan and Sophie and daughter of Aggie in the films. She was already an established actress at the time, but decided to join the films because of Debbie Reynolds. After the Halloweentown movies ended, Hoag remained acting. Most recently, she starred in the movies Laugh. Love. Karaoke. and Finding You. According to her Instagram, besides acting, Hoag has also dabbled in directing and is starting a podcast soon. She also appears at many cons and fans events.
4 Phillip Van Dyke
Phillip Van Dyke played the goblin Luke, a friend or Marnie's who was briefly turned into a human, in the first two films. He went on to star in episodes of some popular TV shows, but quit acting in 2003. Van Dyke reunited with the cast in 2019, for the Spirit of Halloweentown Festival and still keeps in touch with Brown and Zimmerman. As for if he'd come back for a Halloweentown reboot, the former actor said yes in an interview with E!.
Now, Van Dyke is married with three children and runs a sales floor for a financial services company.
3 Daniel Kountz
Daniel Kountz played Kal in Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge. It turned out he was Kalabar's son and was the bad guy, despite trying to charm Marnie and have them date. Well, it turns out he is actually dating Brown in real life. He is still acting to this day, with his latest credit in 2019 in Prospectors The Forgiven, but he also works as a realtor.
According to Brown, the two had no romantic feelings towards each other during filming and didn't talk or see each other for over a decade. They reconnected when she wanted to have him in a YouTube video, and the rest was history.
2 Robin Thomas
Robin Thomas played the movie's main villain, Kalabar, the mayor of Halloweentown and Gwen's ex-boyfriend. He only appeared in the first movie. Thomas is still acting in 2021 and currently stars in the Mystery 101 series, which is a series of Hallmark Movies & Mystery TV series. He has two children. The actor started a construction company renovating lofts and apartments in New York to help his income as an actor and sculptor.
1 Lucas Grabeel
Lucas Grabeel is no stranger to Disney Channel. Before starring the High School Musical trilogy, Grabeel had a small part in Halloweentown High and Return To Halloweentown as Ethan Dalloway. Dalloway was the son of the villain in the third movie, Edgar Dalloway. Ethan is one of the students that is brought back into the human world and becomes Marnie's love interest in the last film.
Currently, the actor is still in show business. He made an appearance on the Disney Family Singalong in 2020 and will attend an event in Paris later this year to honor director and choreographer, Kenny Ortega. Grabeel also guest starred on High School Musical: The Musical: The Series in season one.