Pokémon: The Movie 2000 arrived in theaters courtesy of Warner Bros., riding the crest of the franchise's first great American wave. As the second theatrical feature following the original movie's surprise box office success, it cemented Pokémon as a bona fide cinematic property rather than a passing fad, pairing the anime's television roots with big screen ambition. Trailers of this kind were essential marketing tools of the era, physical strips cut and distributed to promote the release before home video and digital previews made such artifacts obsolete, making surviving 35mm trailer material a scarce link to that theatrical rollout.
This cell brings together the core cast that defined the show's early identity: Ash Ketchum, the series' persistent young trainer, alongside Pikachu, the franchise's defining mascot and its most collected figure. Jessie, James, and Meowth, the recurring antagonist trio, provide the comic tension audiences expected in every installment. As a trailer cell, this frame belongs to the promotional apparatus built to entice ticket buyers, capturing the ensemble dynamic between hero, companion, and rivals that made the show and its films instantly recognizable to a global audience.
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 side by side across the width, suggesting this is a two-frame section of 35mm film photographed to show both frames together.
Perforations
Four perforations per frame visible on the top edge; bottom edge perforations also present and countable; spacing appears even and punching appears clean with no torn or deformed holes visible.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical soundtrack track is visible running along the bottom edge beside the perforations, appearing as a two-track variable-area pattern with a DTS timecode line also discernible as a fine dashed line adjacent to the optical track.
Edge print
Not fully legible in this capture; partial text and key numbers appear along the edges but cannot be quoted with certainty at this resolution.
Base & colour
Base appears with a slight warm-neutral tint; dye image shows saturated colour with no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history
No visible splices, cue marks, or significant scratching observed; the image surface appears consistent with a projected release print showing light use.
Picture
Positive colour image; both frames appear to be consecutive frames from the same shot, and the animated characters and style are consistent with the Pokémon franchise film on record.
Era check
The combination of variable-area optical track, DTS timecode line, and fully saturated colour dye image is consistent with a 1999–2000 theatrical release print of the period when Pokémon: The Movie 2000 was distributed.
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
