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 October rewatches. Directed by Kenny Ortega, it paired Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica Parker as the Sanderson sisters, three witches resurrected in Salem for one Halloween night. The film's blend of comedy and mild horror, aimed squarely at kids willing to be a little scared, helped cement it as a seasonal staple, its reputation growing well past its initial theatrical run into genuine cult status.
This piece centers on Sarah Sanderson, the dreamy, sing-song middle sister played by Sarah Jessica Parker, a character prized by collectors for her flighty charm and her memorable musical moment casting a spell over Salem's children. As one sister among the trio, a cell bearing her name isolates a piece of the ensemble's chemistry, the kind of individual frame that fans seek out to represent a specific character within a film built on group dynamics and sisterly rivalry.
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 both edges, evenly spaced, cleanly punched with no visible torn or deformed holes
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track runs along one edge beside the picture, with what appears to be a Dolby Digital data block strip visible as a blue band adjacent to the optical track
Edge print
EASTMAN 5 1T (read mirrored as printed; appears as reversed text along the lower edge)
Base & colour
Base appears clear with a slight warm-amber tint in the edge print area; dye image reads as neutral colour positive with no visible fading or red shift
Projection history
No splices or cue marks visible; minor surface scuffing consistent with a projected print is suggested by faint longitudinal lines along the base side
Picture
Positive colour image; three consecutive frames appear to be from a single continuous shot, and the costumed figure with a large purple prop is consistent with the fantasy-comedy film on record
Era check
Eastman colour print stock with a variable-area optical track plus Dolby Digital data blocks is consistent with a 1993 theatrical release print era, when that combination was standard
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 000063383
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
