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Pokemon: The Movie 2000 arrived at the height of Pokemania, released theatrically by Warner Bros. in early 2000 on the strength of a phenomenon that had already conquered handheld games, trading cards, and Saturday morning television. Known in Japan as Mewtwo Strikes Back's sequel-adjacent feature, this film pushed the franchise's animation into 35MM theatrical distribution, cementing Pikachu and the wider cast as fixtures of American multiplex culture. For a generation of collectors, this was the moment the franchise proved it could fill theaters, not just shelves and screens at home.
This cell centers on Pikachu, the franchise's defining mascot and the character most responsible for Pokemon's crossover into mainstream recognition. As a 35MM piece pulled from actual theatrical printing stock, it represents a physical fragment of that release run, a tangible artifact from the reels that played before audiences in 2000. Collectors seek Pikachu material above nearly all else in Pokemon memorabilia, and a piece drawn directly from the film's own celluloid history carries particular weight among those building complete studio-era archives.
