Pokémon: The Movie 2000 arrived in theaters through Warner Bros. and Nintendo's promotional partnership, riding the momentum of the franchise's explosive American debut a year earlier. As the second theatrical feature, it expanded the mythology with Legendary Pokémon and a global sense of stakes, and its trailer campaign was engineered to capture an audience still hungry for anything Pikachu related. These trailer frames circulated in cinemas as part of that promotional push, a moment of film history preserved on 35mm.
This cell captures a shared frame with Elekid, Pikachu, and Bulbasaur, though only Pikachu is named among the people present, the electric mouse remaining the franchise's central face throughout its promotional materials. A trailer cell like this one served to build anticipation, offering audiences a glimpse of familiar creatures before the feature itself. Pikachu's presence anchors the composition, its status as mascot making any surviving trailer fragment featuring the character a natural point of collector interest, tied directly to the film's earliest public marketing life.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Pokémon: The Movie 2000.
Gauge
35mm, confirmed by four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds four frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges; spacing appears even and the punched holes appear cleanly cut with no visible tearing.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge below the picture area, appearing as a dual-band wavy white pattern consistent with a stereo variable-area optical track; a narrow blue stripe is also visible immediately above it, consistent with a Dolby SR noise-reduction coating.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to read any key numbers or manufacturer text.
Base & colour
The base appears with a slight blue-green tint typical of safety acetate or polyester stock; the dye image reads warm-yellow with no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history
Light vertical scratches are visible running through the frame area, consistent with a print that has passed through a projector gate.
Picture
Positive colour image; all four frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single continuous shot, and the animated characters visible are consistent with the Pokémon franchise as recorded.
Era check
The dual variable-area optical track with apparent Dolby SR stripe, warm dye image, and blue-tinted base are all consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print from around 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
