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's big-screen extension of the Nickelodeon sketch that had already made Kel Mitchell and Kenan Thompson household names to a generation raised on All That. The film was a modest theatrical release, built on the loose charm of its two leads and the simple premise of a struggling burger stand fighting off a corporate rival. It never aimed for critical acclaim, but it became a fixture of late-90s kids' culture, a cheerful artifact of the Nickelodeon-to-cinema pipeline that also produced Kenan and Kel's broader popularity.
This cell preserves the title card, the frame that opens the film and announces it by name before a single scene unfolds. Title cards hold a particular appeal for collectors because they mark the threshold moment, the projector's first declaration of what audiences are about to watch. For a film so tied to a specific era of children's programming, owning this piece means owning the moment before Ed and Dexter ever appear, the pure announcement of Good Burger as its own self-contained world.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm analogue optical-track release print of Good Burger (1997)
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three frames
Perforations
Four per frame on each edge, evenly spaced; punching appears clean with no torn or deformed holes visible
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area, appearing as a single-track waveform stripe
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Base appears neutral to very slightly warm; dye image shows pinkish-red tones consistent with a colour print stock in reasonable condition
Projection history
No obvious deep scratches or splices are visible; faint vertical streaking on the rightmost frame may indicate light projection wear
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames of a single shot and the subject matter is consistent with a theatrical release print
Era check
A single variable-area optical track without visible Dolby Digital pixel blocks or DTS timecode is consistent with a standard analogue release print of the mid-to-late 1990s, matching the 1997 release 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 000062540
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
