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 home video and annual Halloween rotation. Directed by Kenny Ortega, it paired family friendly scares with a broad comic sensibility, and over the following decades became one of Disney's most reliable seasonal perennials, eventually spawning a sequel nearly thirty years on. Its endurance rests largely on the trio of witches who anchor the story.
This 35mm cell preserves Winifred Sanderson, the eldest and most commanding of the Sanderson sisters, brought to life by Bette Midler in a performance widely regarded as the film's driving force. Winnie is the plotter, the leader, the one whose ambitions set the story's events in motion, and collectors seek her image as the clearest representation of the film's identity. A single frame cell like this offers a direct physical link to that performance, isolating the character herself without supporting cast or spectacle around her.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Hocus Pocus (1993).
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on each edge; spacing appears even and the punched holes appear cleanly cut with no visible tearing.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area, with what appears to be a Dolby Digital data-block strip in the inter-perforation zone on the same edge.
Edge print
Not fully legible in this capture; partial characters are visible along the edge but cannot be quoted with confidence.
Base & colour
The base shows a warm amber-yellow tint along the bottom edge consistent with aged acetate safety stock; the dye image reads with warm, saturated colour.
Projection history
Light vertical scratching is visible across the frame 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, and the theatrical setting is consistent with Hocus Pocus (1993).
Era check
The combination of variable-area optical track, Dolby Digital data blocks, acetate safety base, and warm dye image 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 000063380
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
