Sources: Wikidata · OpenAlex. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
Hocus Pocus arrived in the summer of 1993 from Walt Disney Pictures, a mid-budget seasonal comedy that underperformed on release before finding its true audience through years of cable replays and home video rediscovery. Directed by Kenny Ortega and led by Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy as the resurrected Sanderson sisters, the film became an autumn perennial, its cult status growing so steadily that it eventually earned a place among Disney's most beloved Halloween titles, spawning merchandise, reunions, and a belated sequel decades later.
This cell centers on Billy and Max, characters bound up in the film's supporting mythology and its teenage core of survivors caught between the sisters and the town of Salem. Billy carries the film's undead comic menace, while Max anchors the human stakes as the boy who lights the candle that starts everything. A frame pairing these two speaks to the crossing of threads between threat and hero, the kind of moment collectors seek when building out a fuller picture of the film's ensemble beyond its witches.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Hocus Pocus (1993).
Gauge
35mm, confirmed by four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, cleanly punched with no torn or deformed holes visible.
Soundtrack
A dual variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area, with a blue dye stripe adjacent to it.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to read any key numbers or manufacturer text.
Base & colour
Base shows a warm yellow-amber tint along the non-picture margin; the dye image reads with normal colour saturation, no obvious red shift or fading.
Projection history
Light longitudinal scratches are visible across the picture area, consistent with a print that has passed through a projector gate.
Picture
Positive colour image; the three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single continuous shot, consistent with a release print of Hocus Pocus (1993).
Era check
The dual variable-area optical track, warm amber base stock, and colour dye image are all consistent with a 1990s theatrical release print, matching the 1993 production date on record.
Read from the original intake capture shown below. Observations only — film is authenticated, not graded.
This original motion picture film element has been examined and authenticated by Crown Grading in partnership with National Film Vault, and encapsulated for archival preservation.
Why so little survivesRelease prints were leased to theaters, not sold. When the run ended they went back to the distributor to be destroyed, and most were. What collectors hold today came from the prints that escaped that order, and no new 35mm prints of these films are being struck.
CROWN SERIAL 000063347
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
