Sources: Wikidata · OpenAlex · Library of Congress. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
FILM NOTES
Released in 2004 through Lionsgate, this adaptation of Marvel's punishing vigilante arrived amid a wave of comic book properties testing darker, R-rated territory before the genre tilted fully toward tentpole spectacle. Thomas Jane took on Frank Castle, a former Marine and FBI agent turned one-man war on organized crime after the murder of his family. The film leaned into revenge-thriller mechanics rather than superhero spectacle, and it holds a place in collector interest as an early attempt to bring a morally uncompromising antihero to the screen outside the usual Marvel house style.
This cell centers on Frank Castle himself, presented under his own name and his adopted identity as The Punisher, the two inseparable halves of the character. For collectors, this is the frame that matters most: the man and the mission, side by side. A cell like this typically comes from footage establishing who Castle is and what he has become, the quiet hinge point between grief and retribution. It stands as a foundational artifact for anyone assembling a visual record of the character's screen history.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm colour release print of The Punisher (2004).
Gauge
35mm, confirmed by four perforations per frame 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 visible tearing.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area, appearing as a single-track waveform; Dolby Digital pixel blocks are not clearly distinguishable at this size.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture.
Base & colour
The base shows a slight warm-amber tint consistent with a colour dye-coupler print; the dye image reads as a normal colour positive with no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
Light vertical scratching is 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 consecutive frames from a single continuous shot, consistent with a release print of The Punisher (2004).
Era check
The single variable-area optical track, colour positive base, and perforation style are all consistent with a standard theatrical release print from the early 2000s.
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 000064451
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
