Released in the summer of 2000, Pokémon: The Movie 2000 arrived at the height of the franchise's first great wave of American popularity, distributed by Warner Bros. as the follow-up to the previous year's blockbuster debut film. Built around the legendary bird Lugia and the balance of the elemental trio, it pushed the young Pokémon film series further into mainstream theatrical territory, backed by an aggressive promotional campaign of trailers, tie-in merchandise, and television spots designed to keep the property in front of its core audience between features.
This cell preserves a piece of that promotional push, a trailer strip built around Lugia's arrival on screen. Lugia holds a singular place in the franchise as the guardian of the seas and one of the earliest legendary Pokémon to anchor an entire film's marketing, making any early promotional appearance a natural point of collector interest. A trailer cell like this one exists to announce presence, the moment a studio chose to spotlight Lugia itself as the film's central draw, offering a physical fragment of how audiences first encountered the character before the movie's wider release.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Pokémon: The Movie 2000 Trailer.
Gauge
35mm; the strip holds four frames, with four perforations per frame visible on both edges.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges; spacing appears even and the punched edges appear clean.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along the lower edge beside the picture area, with what appears to be a second parallel line consistent with a stereo variable-area track; Dolby Digital pixel blocks are visible in the inter-perforation gaps 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 light cyan-blue tint consistent with a colour print stock; the dye image reads with strong blue-violet and neutral grey tones, appearing unfaded.
Projection history
Faint longitudinal lines are visible along the lower portion of the strip, consistent with projection contact; no splices or cue marks are seen.
Picture
Positive colour image; all four frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single continuous shot, consistent with an animated theatrical release print matching the film on record.
Era check
The combination of cyan-tinted base stock, Dolby Digital inter-perforation data blocks alongside a variable-area optical track, and colour dye saturation is consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print from the late 1990s to early 2000s.
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
