Sources: Wikidata · OpenAlex · Library of Congress. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl arrived from Walt Disney Pictures in the summer of 2003, a swashbuckling gamble built around a theme park ride that few expected to become a franchise cornerstone. Gore Verbinski directed, and the picture is remembered as the film that turned Johnny Depp's eccentric, kohl-eyed performance into a cultural fixture while giving Geoffrey Rush a rich foil in the cursed pirate captain. It revived the studio adventure picture for a new generation and set the template for the sequels that followed.
This cell pairs the franchise's two defining captains, Jack Sparrow and Hector Barbossa, the rivalry at the heart of the story. Sparrow, played by Depp, became an instantly collectible screen figure, while Rush's Barbossa gave the saga its first great antagonist turned uneasy ally. A cell naming both men together marks the tension and grudging camaraderie that drives the plot, the kind of pairing prized by collectors who want the film's central dynamic captured in a single frame.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003).
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on each edge; spacing appears even; punching appears clean with no torn or deformed holes visible.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible as a white-and-black waveform band running along one edge, with a blue DTS timecode stripe immediately adjacent to it.
Edge print
Edge print reads, corrected for mirror reversal: '2383 969 2 60 1 09 KOD·A K 29 200 3 G'
Base & colour
Base shows a cyan-teal tint consistent with a colour print stock; dye image appears neutral with no visible red shift or fading.
Projection history
Light longitudinal scratches are visible across the frame area, consistent with a print that has passed through a projector gate.
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be from the same continuous shot; subject matter is consistent with an action sequence from Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
Era check
The Kodak 2383 print stock, DTS timecode stripe alongside a variable-area optical track, and SDDS-absent layout are all consistent with a 2003 theatrical release print.
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 000063455
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
