Sources: Wikidata. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
Pokémon: The Movie 2000 arrived as Warner Bros. and 4Kids Entertainment's second theatrical push of the franchise at the height of its late-nineties American boom, following the surprise commercial success of the first film. Built around the legendary bird trio of Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres, and their disrupted balance, the picture served as a major merchandising and cultural event, cementing Pokémon's place in mainstream animation distribution during a period when Nintendo's properties were expanding rapidly beyond games into film.
This cell isolates Moltres, one of the three legendary birds whose imbalance drives the film's central conflict. As a fire and flying type steeped in mythic status within the Pokémon canon, Moltres draws particular interest from collectors tracing legendary creature appearances across the franchise's earliest theatrical run. A 35mm frame naming only this figure marks a moment devoted entirely to the character's presence within the story, isolated from the surrounding human cast, offering a direct physical link to the movie's original theatrical print.
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 three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges; spacing appears even and the punched edges look clean throughout the strip.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible along the bottom edge, appearing as a dual bilateral variable-area pattern, with what appears to be a Dolby Digital data block region also present between the perforations on the lower edge.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to read any key numbers or manufacturer text.
Base & colour
The base shows a cyan-blue tint consistent with a colour print stock; the dye image appears warm with no obvious red shift or fading.
Projection history
No visible splices, cue marks, or heavy scratching are apparent; the surface appears consistent with a projected release print.
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single shot, and the animated style is consistent with the film on record.
Era check
The dual bilateral variable-area optical track combined with Dolby Digital data blocks and cyan-base colour print stock are all consistent with a 1999–2000 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, 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
