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 television rotation. Directed by Kenny Ortega and built around the Sanderson sisters, it became a seasonal touchstone, the kind of film that families return to every October. Its cult status grew slowly, and by the 2000s it had become inseparable from the holiday itself, spawning merchandise, sequels, and a devoted collector base drawn to its blend of comedy and gentle horror.
This cell belongs to Billy Butcherson, the resurrected ex-lover of Winifred Sanderson, whose reanimated presence supplies much of the film's dark comic energy. Collectors seek him out because he represents the story's most memorable supporting turn, a character caught between menace and pathos. A single 35mm frame of Billy stands as a physical fragment of that performance, a tactile piece of the production separate from any digital reissue, valued simply for having passed through the camera during his scenes.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm Dolby SR optical release print of Hocus Pocus (1993).
Gauge
35mm, confirmed by four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three complete frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced; punched edges appear clean with no visible tearing or distortion.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along the bottom edge beside the perforations, appearing as a dual bilateral variable-area pattern; a solid blue stripe and a yellow-orange stripe are also present on the lower edge, consistent with a Dolby Stereo SR optical track with associated colour stripes.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to read any key numbers or manufacturer text.
Base & colour
The base shows a slight warm-amber tint on the lower edge strip; the picture area is predominantly very dark with deep blue-purple tones, suggesting a dense, correctly exposed colour dye image.
Projection history
Light surface abrasions and scattered emulsion debris are visible across the picture area, consistent with a projected print.
Picture
Positive colour image; the three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single dark scene, consistent with a theatrical release print of a 1993 live-action film.
Era check
The dual bilateral variable-area optical track with Dolby SR colour stripes and the warm-amber base tint are consistent with a mid-1990s theatrical release print, matching the 1993 release 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 000063374
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
