Pokémon: The Movie 2000 arrived in the summer of 2000 as Warner Bros. and Nintendo pressed their advantage while the franchise still dominated American playgrounds and Saturday morning schedules. Following the surprise box office strength of the first film, this sequel, subtitled The Power of One, was rushed into theaters with a promotional campaign built on trailers designed to keep the craze alive between television episodes and merchandise waves. For collectors, material from this marketing push captures Pokémon at its commercial peak, when a single reel of preview footage carried real cultural weight.
This particular strip preserves a promotional moment featuring Pikachu alongside Elekid and Bulbasaur, three of the franchise's most recognizable early Pokémon. Pikachu remains the undisputed mascot, while Elekid and Bulbasaur represent the deep roster of original creatures that gave the series its collectible appeal from the start. As a trailer cell, this frame belonged to the machinery of anticipation itself, spliced together to entice audiences before the feature ever screened, making it a physical artifact of how the movie was sold rather than how it was watched.
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 three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges; spacing appears even and the punched edges appear clean throughout the visible strip.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical soundtrack track is visible running along the lower edge beside the picture area, appearing as a narrow undulating white band; a blue stripe is also visible adjacent to it, consistent with a Dolby stereo print's blue-dye track area.
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 warm-neutral tint; the dye image shows rich yellows and blues with no visible fading or colour shift.
Projection history
No visible scratches, splice marks, or cue marks are seen on the frames in this capture.
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single continuous shot, and the animated characters are consistent with the Pokémon franchise as recorded.
Era check
The variable-area optical track with adjacent blue stripe, warm-neutral base, and positive colour dye image 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
