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's Pokémon USA arm at the height of the franchise's global takeover, following the surprise box office success of the original Pokémon movie the year before. Built around the legendary bird Lugia and the "Chosen One" prophecy, it pushed the mythology of the series into feature length spectacle, pairing television-familiar characters with a grander, more mythic scale. For American audiences it cemented Pokémon as a theatrical event rather than a passing toy craze, and the film remains a marker of that early 2000s peak.
This cell preserves a strip of 35mm carrying Lugia alone, the guardian of the seas and one of the most sought after legendary Pokémon among collectors of vault material. As the film's central mythic figure, Lugia anchors the story's stakes and its promotional identity, making any surviving frame of the character a desirable piece for archives built around key movie assets. Isolated on its own strip, without supporting cast, the cell reads as a straightforward character holding, the kind of unit reels are cut into for study, reference, or single-figure display within a collection.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Pokémon: The Movie 2000.
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds two frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges; spacing appears even; edges of the perforations appear cleanly punched with no visible tearing.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible below the picture area on the lower portion of the strip, alongside what appears to be a Dolby Digital data-block strip in the inter-perforation gap on the lower edge.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to read any key numbers or manufacturer text.
Base & colour
Base appears with a slight blue-cyan tint consistent with a dye-based colour print stock; the dye image reads as rich blue-violet with no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
Several fine vertical lines are visible running through both frames, consistent with projection wear or minor base scratching.
Picture
Positive colour image; both frames appear to be from the same continuous shot, and the vivid animated imagery is consistent with a theatrical release print of the animated film on record.
Era check
The combination of variable-area optical track, apparent Dolby Digital data blocks, and colour dye print stock is consistent with a 1999-2000 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, 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
