Sources: Wikidata · OpenAlex. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
Hocus Pocus arrived from Walt Disney Pictures in the summer of 1993, a modest box office performer that found its true audience later, through years of Halloween season television airings. Directed by Kenny Ortega, it blended broad family comedy with genuine witchcraft menace, and over time became a seasonal touchstone, the kind of film households return to every October. Its cult status now outstrips its initial reception by a wide margin, and that afterlife is central to why physical artifacts from the production hold appeal decades on.
This cell isolates Winifred Sanderson, the eldest and most commanding of the three Sanderson sisters, the character who anchors the film's comic and villainous energy alike. She is the figure most collectors seek out first, given her presence as the trio's leader and the role's enduring popularity in Halloween iconography. A single-character 35mm frame of Winnie represents a clean, focused piece of the production, distinct from ensemble shots, and offers a direct link to the performance that made the character an annual fixture of pop culture.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Hocus Pocus (1993).
Gauge
35mm; the strip holds three frames, each with four perforations visible on the upper edge and four on the lower edge.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges; spacing appears even and the punched corners are rounded and cleanly cut throughout the visible length.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along the lower edge beside the perforations, appearing as a narrow light-modulated stripe; a bold blue stripe and what appears to be a Dolby Digital pixel-block area are also visible in the lower border region between the track and the frame.
Edge print
Lower edge reads '9 b 1' (mirrored); no manufacturer name or SAFETY FILM text is legible in this capture.
Base & colour
Base appears with a slight warm-amber cast in the lower strip area; the dye image in the frames reads as a warm, saturated positive with no obvious colour shift or fading.
Projection history
Several fine longitudinal lines are visible running the length of the strip, consistent with projection wear; no splices or cue marks are seen in this capture.
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single continuous shot, and the subject matter is consistent with the theatrical release print of the film on record.
Era check
The combination of a variable-area optical track, Dolby Digital data blocks, and warm-base colour positive stock is consistent with a mid-1990s theatrical release print, matching the 1993 production date of the film 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 000063356
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
