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 Pikachu Project 1999 as the follow-up to the franchise's cinematic debut, riding the peak of Pokémon mania in North America. Also known as Pokémon: The Power of One, it expanded the mythology beyond the games and television series by centering its story on the legendary guardian birds and their counterpart, deepening the world for a young audience already devoted to the property. Its theatrical run cemented Pokémon as a lasting multimedia phenomenon rather than a passing craze.
This 35mm cell preserves a strip of the film built around Lugia, the legendary sea guardian whose role anchors the movie's plot and title. Lugia's appearances are prized among collectors for representing the franchise's early ambition to introduce mythic, god-like creatures beyond the standard roster. A single-character cell like this one offers a direct physical link to that era of Pokémon's expansion, isolating the legendary figure without any surrounding cast, letting the piece stand as a focused artifact of the character's screen presence within this specific film.
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 approximately six 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 running beside the picture area on one edge, appearing as a dual bilateral variable-area track; a thin blue DTS timecode line is also visible running alongside the optical track.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to read manufacturer text or key numbers.
Base & colour
The base shows a blue-teal tint consistent with a colour print stock; the dye image in the visible frames appears dark with a slight warm-brown cast in the lighter frames.
Projection history
Light horizontal scratching is visible across the picture area, consistent with a print that has been projected.
Picture
Positive image; frames run consecutively as a single shot; the visible imagery is consistent with an animated theatrical release matching the film on record.
Era check
The combination of dual bilateral variable-area optical track, DTS timecode stripe, and blue-tinted base stock is consistent with a 1990s–2000s theatrical release print, matching the 2000 release date 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
