Pokémon: The Movie 2000 arrived as Warner Bros. and Nintendo pushed the franchise's theatrical ambitions into a second installment, following the surprise box office success of the first film. Riding the peak of Pokémania in the West, this release brought Lugia and the Legendary Birds to American audiences, backed by a promotional campaign designed to keep the craze alive a full year after its television debut. Trailers for the picture circulated widely on 35mm to theaters nationwide, making this era one of the franchise's most heavily marketed windows.
This piece preserves a moment tied directly to the promotional rollout, the opening built around a Poke Ball alongside the picture's title card. Such a sequence marks the trailer's formal introduction, the point where audiences were first met with the film's identity on the big screen. The Poke Ball itself stands as the franchise's central emblem, recognizable instantly and central to why collectors pursue material bearing it. A title card cell like this represents the branding backbone of the release, the piece meant to announce the film before a single scene unfolds.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm colour positive theatrical trailer print of Pokémon: The Movie 2000.
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds approximately four frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced; punched edges appear clean with no torn or deformed perforations visible.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along the lower edge beside the picture area, appearing as a narrow band with a modulated waveform.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture.
Base & colour
Base shows a slight blue-cyan tint consistent with a colour print stock; dye image appears saturated with no visible fading or red shift.
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; frames run consecutively as a continuous sequence and the animated character and title-card imagery are consistent with a Pokémon theatrical trailer release print.
Era check
The variable-area optical track, colour positive print stock, and cyan-tinted base are all consistent with a 35mm theatrical release or trailer print from the year 2000.
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
