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 modestly budgeted comedy that found little traction at the box office but steadily earned a devoted following through television airings and home video. Set in Salem, Massachusetts, it blends Halloween folklore with slapstick humor, and its cast, particularly the trio of witches, became the film's enduring legacy. Over time it grew into a seasonal touchstone, screened annually as autumn approaches, and its imagery now circulates widely among collectors of nineties Disney output.
This 35mm cell isolates Winifred Sanderson, the eldest and most commanding of the three Sanderson sisters, the character who anchors the film's comedic menace and its most quoted lines. For collectors, a Winnie cell represents the character actors built the film around, the figure whose presence defines Hocus Pocus in popular memory. As a single frame drawn from the reel, it stands apart from trailer or title card material, offering instead a direct fragment of the performance itself, a small physical remnant of the witch who made the picture memorable.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Hocus Pocus (1993).
Gauge
35mm, confirmed by four perforations per frame visible on both edges; the strip holds three complete frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, cleanly punched with no torn or deformed holes visible.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area, appearing as a dual-bilateral (two-track) white waveform band; a blue stripe and what appears to be a Dolby Digital data block region are also visible in the inter-perforation gap area on the same edge.
Edge print
Edge print reads, mirrored as captured: EASTMAN S 111 — consistent with Eastman color print stock designation.
Base & colour
Base appears warm golden-amber in the clear margins, typical of processed color print stock; the dye image shows warm, saturated color with no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
Light vertical scratch lines are visible running through all three frames, consistent with projection wear; no splices or cue marks are visible.
Picture
Positive color image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single continuous shot, consistent with a theatrical release print of Hocus Pocus (1993).
Era check
The combination of Eastman color print stock, dual-bilateral optical soundtrack with apparent Dolby Digital data blocks, and warm amber base is consistent with a mid-1990s theatrical release print.
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 000063357
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
