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 4Kids in the summer of 2000, riding the height of Pokémania in the United States. Adapted from the Japanese feature Revelation Lugia, it followed the franchise's first theatrical outing with a story built around the Legendary Birds and the guardian of the seas, Lugia. For a generation of young collectors it was a communal theater event, complete with a bundled Pokémon short and a wave of tie in merchandise, cementing the series as a genuine cinematic property rather than just a television phenomenon.
This 35mm cell preserves a frame of Lugia itself, the film's central Legendary Pokémon and one of the most sought after characters from the era due to its rarity in the games and its pivotal role as protector in the story. Owning a physical strip naming Lugia connects a collector directly to the movie's mythic core, the being whose intervention drives the plot's resolution. As a film cell rather than a card or poster, it represents an actual photographic artifact from the theatrical print, a small fragment of the release itself.
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 four frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced; punched edges appear clean with no visible tearing.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along the bottom edge beside the picture area, appearing as a two-track variable-area format; Dolby Digital data blocks are visible in the inter-perforation gaps on the bottom edge.
Base shows a cyan-blue tint consistent with Kodak print stock; the dye image presents strong blue-purple hues with no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history
No visible scratches, splice marks, or cue marks are seen in this capture.
Picture
Positive image; all four frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single shot and are consistent with an animated theatrical release print matching the film on record.
Era check
The Dolby Digital inter-perforation data blocks, variable-area optical track, and Kodak 2383 print stock are all 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
