Sources: Wikidata · OpenAlex · Library of Congress. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
FILM NOTES
Lions Gate released The Punisher in 2004, an early attempt to bring Marvel's grim vigilante to the screen outside the Blade franchise's shadow. Thomas Jane took on the role of Frank Castle, a man who loses his family to organized crime and remakes himself into an instrument of retribution. The film leaned hard into pulpy revenge-thriller territory rather than traditional superhero spectacle, and it holds a place in early 2000s comic adaptations as a bridge between grindhouse violence and the coming golden age of Marvel cinema.
This cell centers on Frank Castle and the bridge burnout sequence built around his Pontiac GTO, a moment tied to the character's transformation and his war against the men who destroyed his life. The GTO itself carries weight for collectors of muscle car cinema, a classic American machine bound up with Castle's identity as a driven, singular avenger. A 35mm cell from this scene captures a piece of that origin, the machinery of vengeance rendered literal before the story's reckoning begins in earnest.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm colour release print of The Punisher (2004).
Gauge
35mm, confirmed by four perforations per frame visible on both edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges; spacing appears even and the punched edges appear clean with no torn or missing perforations visible.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along the lower edge beside the picture area, appearing as a dual bilateral variable-area waveform consistent with a stereo optical track; Dolby Digital data blocks are not clearly distinguishable at this size, and no DTS timecode line or SDDS outer-edge tracks are visible in this capture.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture.
Base & colour
The base appears with a slight warm-neutral tint; the dye image reads as a strong blue-dominant colour positive with no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
Light vertical scratching is visible running through the frame area, consistent with evidence of a projected print.
Picture
Positive colour image; the three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single continuous shot, consistent with a release print of The Punisher (2004).
Era check
A 35mm colour positive print with a variable-area optical soundtrack is fully consistent with a 2004 theatrical release print, as digital optical formats such as Dolby Digital and DTS were standard accompaniments to analogue optical tracks in that era.
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 000064378
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
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