Sources: Wikidata. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
Digimon: The Movie arrived in theaters in 2000 through Fox Kids and Saban, a repackaged assembly of three Japanese Digimon features stitched together for American audiences riding high on the monster collecting craze of the era. It served as a bridge between the anime's television run and its theatrical ambitions in the West, introducing a wider audience to the DigiDestined and their partner creatures. The film's box office performance was modest, but it remains a fixture of early 2000s youth entertainment and a nostalgic marker for the franchise's American expansion.
This cell centers on Tai Kamiya, the series' central protagonist and leader of the DigiDestined, a figure whose goggles and determined spirit became a template for shonen adventure heroes of the period. Collectors seek Tai for his role as the emotional anchor of the franchise, the character most closely tied to Digimon's core themes of courage and partnership. A 35mm cell bearing his likeness represents a physical fragment of the film's theatrical print, a tangible artifact from the movie's actual projection history rather than a later reproduction.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Digimon: The Movie (2000)
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three frames
Perforations
Four per frame on each edge, evenly spaced, cleanly punched with no torn or deformed holes visible
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Base appears with a slight blue-cyan tint; dye image reads as warm and saturated with no visible fading
Projection history
No scratches, splice marks, or cue marks are visible on the frames shown
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single shot, consistent with animated content matching Digimon: The Movie (2000)
Era check
The variable-area optical track, cyan-tinted polyester base, and saturated dye image are all consistent with a theatrical release print from the year 2000
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 000063109
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
