Sources: Wikidata. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
The Garbage Pail Kids Movie arrived in 1987 as a live-action spinoff of the Topps trading card series, produced independently and released through Atlantic Releasing Corporation. It sits at the tail end of the 1980s novelty-toy film boom, alongside adaptations built to capitalize on collectible crazes rather than critical ambition. The film has since become a cult curiosity, remembered less for its story than for its place in the strange lineage of licensed properties translated to the screen, and for the peculiar cultural moment that made grotesque trading cards into a marketable feature film.
This cell preserves a credits sequence, the portion of a film where production and cast names roll for the audience, marking the formal opening or closing of the picture. Credits cells are prized by collectors because they anchor a reel to its actual theatrical run, offering a physical fragment of the film's presentation rather than a promotional still. For a title with as unusual a release history as this one, a strip from the credits carries documentary weight, tying the object directly to the finished, distributed film rather than to publicity materials made around it.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of The Garbage Pail Kids Movie (1987).
Gauge
35mm, confirmed by four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three complete frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, cleanly punched with no visible tearing or deformation.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area, appearing as a dual bilateral variable-area pattern.
Edge print
Edge code reads: A 48X 6 5 6 9 3
Base & colour
Base appears neutral to very slightly warm; the dye image is dense and shows no visible fading or colour shift.
Projection history
No splices, cue marks or significant scratches are visible on this strip.
Picture
Positive image; all three frames show the same title-card composition, indicating a credits sequence rather than consecutive action frames, consistent with the Garbage Pail Kids Movie title card and cast credit for Phil Fondacaro as Greaser Greg.
Era check
The dual bilateral variable-area optical soundtrack and Kodak-style edge numbering format are consistent with a mid-to-late 1980s theatrical release print, matching the 1987 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 000062912
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
