Sources: Wikidata. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
Pokémon: The Movie 2000 arrived from Warner Bros. and Nintendo/4Kids at the height of Pokémania, following the original 1998 feature into theaters as the franchise's second big-screen outing. Built around the Legendary Birds and Lugia, it extended the anime's reach beyond television into a genuine event picture, drawing families and young collectors who had grown up with the show's first wave. For many, it remains a marker of that peak era, when Pokémon dominated toy aisles, playgrounds, and Saturday morning schedules alike.
This cell brings together the series' core dynamic: Ash Ketchum and Pikachu, the show's central pair, alongside Jessie and James of Team Rocket, the recurring rivals whose schemes provide the franchise's comic backbone. A strip naming all four together speaks to the ensemble chemistry collectors prize, capturing the push and pull between hero and antagonist that defined the show's tone. Such a piece likely comes from film used in the movie's theatrical run or promotion, a physical trace of an era when animation still moved through actual celluloid before the shift to digital projection.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Pokémon: The Movie 2000.
Gauge
35mm, confirmed by four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds one frame.
Perforations
Four per frame on each edge; spacing appears even and the punched edges appear clean.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible below the picture area, with what appears to be a second parallel track line consistent with a stereo or Dolby SR optical format; Dolby Digital pixel blocks are not clearly distinguishable, DTS timecode line not visible in this capture, SDDS outer-edge tracks not visible in this capture.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture.
Base & colour
The base appears with a slight blue-teal tint consistent with a safety polyester or acetate stock; the dye image reads as warm and saturated with no visible fading.
Projection history
No scratches, splice marks, or cue marks are visible in this capture.
Picture
Positive colour image; the single frame depicts characters consistent with the Pokémon franchise, matching the film on record.
Era check
The variable-area optical soundtrack format, saturated dye image, and blue-tinted base stock are all consistent with a theatrical release print from the late 1990s to early 2000s, matching the release period of the film on record.
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, 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.
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
