CrownGrading Pro
Crown Portal
Submit cards Submissions Start your submissions Submission walkthrough Grading process Pre-Grade estimator Film authentication Programs Crown Ascension Crown Royal Tier Resources About Crown CrownStandard Knowledge Center CrownVault Contact Crown Portal
Ready to grade your cards? Submit Cards →
Crown Grading

National Film Vault

OFFICIAL FILM AUTHENTICATION BY CROWN GRADING
A
AUTHENTIC
CROWN CERTIFIED
Film cell NFV-000001621 Tap to enlarge
MOVIELilo & Stitch - 'The Little Mermaid' Promotional Movie Trailer
SCENELilo & Stitch Title Card
FILM FORMAT35mm
YEAR2002
CERTIFICATE IDNFV-000001621

FILM NOTES

Disney's Lilo & Stitch arrived in 2002 as a hand-drawn feature that broke from the studio's fairy-tale mold, trading castles and princesses for a Hawaiian setting and a story about family, loss, and an alien fugitive learning to belong. Released during a difficult stretch for traditional animation, it became a sleeper hit thanks to its offbeat humor and watercolor-inspired backgrounds, and it helped keep hand-drawn features viable at Disney a little longer. Its marketing leaned on Stitch's mischief and the film's genuine warmth, qualities that made it stand apart from its contemporaries.

This piece comes from promotional material tying the film to The Little Mermaid, a common practice when studios paired new releases with reissues or home video campaigns to draw in existing fans. A title card marks the film's name and branding rather than a scene, making it a foundational piece for anyone assembling a run of promotional material from this release. Collectors value these cards because they capture the studio's marketing identity at the moment of release, offering a piece of the film's launch rather than its narrative.

Authentication Findings 8 checks

Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Lilo and Stitch (2002).

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, cleanly punched with no torn or deformed holes visible.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible along one edge, and a Dolby Digital data block pattern is visible in the inter-perforation gaps on the same edge; a DTS timecode stripe also appears as a fine dotted line along that edge.
Edge print
Lower edge reads: 23 83 703 0 27 1 2 3 KOD *AK 28 2002 S
Base & colour
Base shows a slight blue-cyan tint typical of modern safety stock; the dye image appears neutral with no visible fading or colour shift.
Projection history
No scratches, splice marks or cue marks are visible on these frames.
Picture
Positive image; all three frames appear to be the same title-card frame running consecutively, and the logo matches the Walt Disney Pictures Lilo and Stitch title treatment on record.
Era check
The Kodak edge code dating to 2002, combined with Dolby Digital inter-perforation blocks and DTS timecode, is fully consistent with a 2002 theatrical release print of this title.
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 000063465
Original Film Capture As received
The film strip as photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size