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 that underperformed on release but found its true audience through years of television airings and home video. Directed by Kenny Ortega, it built its reputation slowly, becoming an autumn staple long after theaters moved on. The film's endurance rests on its cast, particularly Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy as the Sanderson sisters, whose chemistry turned a modest studio release into a perennial favorite passed down through generations of viewers who return to it every October.
This cell centers on Sarah, the Sanderson sister played by Sarah Jessica Parker, whose flirtatious energy became one of the character's defining traits and a favorite among collectors drawn to her lighter, more playful counterpoint to her sisters' menace. A moment built around flirting captures her as seductress and comic relief at once, a quality that made her instantly quotable and merchandisable. As a 35mm frame from the theatrical release, this piece preserves a fragment of the film's original photochemical presentation, a tactile link to the print stock that once ran through projectors before the movie found its lasting home on screens at home.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm Dolby Digital composite optical release print of Hocus Pocus (1993)
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three consecutive frames
Perforations
Four per frame on each edge, evenly spaced, cleanly punched with no visible torn or deformed holes
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area, appearing as a single bilateral variable-area track; Dolby Digital data blocks are visible in the inter-perforation gaps on the same edge, indicating a Dolby Digital optical composite print
Edge print
Mirrored text readable as 'L P 9' along the lower edge margin; additional edge coding not fully legible in this capture
Base & colour
Base shows a slight warm-green tint typical of color print stock; dye image appears well-saturated with no obvious fading or red shift
Projection history
No visible splices, cue marks, or heavy scratching; faint longitudinal lines are present consistent with a projected print
Picture
Positive color image; all three frames appear to be from the same continuous shot, consistent with a theatrical release print of Hocus Pocus (1993)
Era check
The composite Dolby Digital plus variable-area optical track format was introduced in 1992 and is fully consistent with a 1993 theatrical release print of this title
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 000063384
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
