Nickelodeon Movies · Tollin/Robbins Productions · 103 min
Sources: Wikidata. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
Good Burger arrived in 1997 as Paramount and Nickelodeon's big-screen extension of All That, riding the popularity of its sketch-comedy roots into a full feature. It gave Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell a launching pad beyond television, and its fast-food-restaurant-versus-corporate-chain plot became a touchstone of late-90s kid-friendly comedy. The film's modest budget and broad humor belied its staying power; it remains a nostalgic favorite for a generation raised on Nickelodeon programming, still referenced and quoted decades later.
This cell isolates Ed, the character who anchors Good Burger's comedic identity. Cheerful and eccentric by nature, Ed became the role that defined Kel Mitchell's early career and the reason many collectors seek this frame out. His presence alone signals the film's tone: warm, odd, endlessly good-natured chaos delivered from behind a fast-food counter. As a single-character 35mm cell, it functions like a condensed casting portrait, a frozen credit to the performance that carried the film's spirit, prized by those building a collection around defining comedic turns from this era of youth-oriented filmmaking.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Good Burger (1997).
Gauge
35mm, confirmed by four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced; punched edges appear clean with no torn or missing perforations visible.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible along one edge, with what appears to be a Dolby Digital data block pattern in the inter-perforation gaps on the same edge, consistent with a dual-format optical release print.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to quote characters reliably.
Base & colour
Base appears with a slight blue-violet tint typical of modern safety stock; dye image reads as warm and stable with no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history
Light vertical scratching is visible across the frame area, consistent with a print that has passed through a projector gate.
Picture
Positive color image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single continuous shot, and the subject matter is consistent with a live-action theatrical release matching the film on record.
Era check
The Dolby Digital inter-perforation data blocks combined with a variable-area optical track and the blue-tinted polyester safety base are all consistent with a mid-1990s theatrical release print, matching the 1997 production date on record.
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 000062523
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
