Pokémon: The Movie 2000 arrived in theaters as Warner Bros. and Nintendo pressed their advantage during the height of Pokémania, following the original film's blockbuster success. Built around the legendary bird Lugia and the balance of the elemental trio, it served as a centerpiece of the franchise's early theatrical run, when Pokémon dominated playgrounds, television, and the box office alike. Trailers for the picture circulated widely on 35mm ahead of release, part of the promotional push that introduced audiences to the film's mythology before a single frame of the feature played.
This cell preserves a strip from that promotional reel, the moment Lugia appears on screen. Lugia stands among the most sought after Pokémon for collectors, a guardian of the seas whose rarity and mystique made it central to the film's marketing. As a trailer cell, this piece belongs to the material meant to entice, not the finished feature itself, a fragment of anticipation from a franchise at its commercial peak.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm colour 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 appear clean.
Soundtrack
A narrow variable-area optical track is visible running along the bottom edge of the picture area, consistent with a mono or stereo optical track; Dolby Digital inter-perforation data blocks are not clearly distinguishable at this size.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture.
Base & colour
The base shows a cool, slightly blue-tinted cast; the dye image reads as a saturated blue-violet with white highlights, consistent with a healthy colour print.
Projection history
Light horizontal scratching is visible across the frame area, consistent with a print that has passed through a projector gate.
Picture
Positive colour image; the three frames run consecutively as a single continuous shot and depict animated content consistent with a Pokémon theatrical release print.
Era check
The variable-area optical soundtrack, colour positive print stock, and four-perforation 35mm format are all consistent with a year-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
