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 annual television airings and home video. Directed by Kenny Ortega, it paired Halloween mischief with a cast of comic character actors, and its yearly rediscovery has made it a perennial cult favorite, especially among collectors of nineties Disney ephemera and seasonal genre pieces.
This cell preserves Mary Sanderson, played by Kathy Najimy, one of the three Sanderson sisters whose reanimation drives the film's plot. Mary is the group's eager, dog-nosed enforcer, prized by fans for her comic timing alongside Bette Midler and Sarah Jessica Parker. A 35mm cell bearing her name and likeness represents a physical fragment of the source print, the kind of collectible that ties directly back to the theatrical or archival release of the film itself.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm Dolby optical 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, with a blue-stripe Dolby noise-reduction band visible beside it, consistent with a dual bilateral or Dolby Stereo optical track
Edge print
Partially legible reversed edge print reads characters that appear to include 'L P' or similar; full key number sequence not fully legible in this capture
Base & colour
Base shows a warm amber-gold tint typical of an acetate safety base; dye image appears warm to slightly red-shifted with no obvious fading
Projection history
Light vertical scratches visible across the frame area, consistent with a print that has passed through a projector gate
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single shot, consistent with a release print of Hocus Pocus (1993)
Era check
The Dolby optical variable-area track with blue noise-reduction stripe, warm acetate base, and colour dye image are all 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 000063388
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
