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 Halloween comedy released well ahead of its season and met with modest box office at the time. Directed by Kenny Ortega and led by Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy as the three Sanderson sisters, it found its true audience later, through home video and annual television airings, growing into an enduring seasonal staple and a cornerstone of Disney's autumn programming.
This piece centers on Mary Sanderson, the sister played by Kathy Najimy, part of the trio whose resurrection drives the film's plot. Mary is the impressionable, sensory-minded member of the coven, often played for comic relief alongside her sisters' grander scheming. Collectors seek her out as the connective figure of the group, the one whose reactions and asides round out the sisters' dynamic. A cell bearing her name preserves a moment tied specifically to her presence within the story, a keepsake for those assembling the complete Sanderson set.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Hocus Pocus (1993).
Gauge
35mm; the strip holds three complete frames, with four perforations per frame visible on both edges.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges; spacing appears even and the punched edges look clean throughout the visible strip.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical soundtrack track runs along one edge beside the picture area, appearing as a white modulated waveform band with a blue stripe adjacent to it, consistent with a dual bilateral or variable-area stereo optical track.
Edge print
The text 'SAFETY FILM' is legible along the lower edge, reading in reverse, indicating emulsion-up orientation on the light panel.
Base & colour
The base shows a warm amber-gold tint along the edges; the dye image within the frames appears warm to slightly red-shifted, consistent with color print stock.
Projection history
No obvious splices or cue marks are visible; faint vertical lines are present across the frames, consistent with a print that has passed through a projector gate.
Picture
Positive color image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames of the same shot, and the subject matter is consistent with a theatrical release print of the film on record.
Era check
The variable-area optical track with adjacent blue Dolby stripe, safety base stock, and color dye image are all consistent with a 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 000063360
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
