Crown Grading

OFFICIAL MOTION PICTURE FILM AUTHENTICATION

AUTHENTIC

CROWN CERTIFIED

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MOVIEPokémon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew

SCENEPikachu Smiling

FILM FORMAT35mm

YEAR2006

CERTIFICATE ID000067384

Film Record Public record

Directed by: Kunihiko Yuyama
Studio: OLM, Inc. · 100 min

Sources: Wikidata. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.

FILM NOTES

Pokémon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew arrived in 2006 as the eighth theatrical feature drawn from the franchise, produced by OLM under Nintendo and The Pokémon Company's banner and distributed for Western audiences by Warner Bros. It marked a technical step forward for the series, folding early digital animation techniques into its traditional cel work and pushing the saga's mythology further with the introduction of Lucario as a major new figure. For longtime fans, the film sits at a turning point, bridging the show's earlier era with a more ambitious feature filmmaking approach.

This cell centers on Pikachu, the franchise's enduring mascot and the character most responsible for its global reach. A moment described simply as smiling speaks to the lighter, companionable side of Pikachu's role, the warmth that balances the film's larger adventure and gives audiences a breath of ease. Collectors prize Pikachu cells for exactly this reason, as they capture the character's core appeal outside of battle, distilled into a single frame of 35mm animation history.

Authentication Findings 8 checks

Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Pokémon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew.

Gauge: 35mm, four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds two frames of picture content visible across its width, presented as a side-by-side duplicate layout consistent with a scope or flat theatrical print.
Perforations: Four per frame on each edge; spacing appears even and the punched holes have clean, sharp corners with no visible tearing or deformation.
Soundtrack: A variable-area optical soundtrack track is visible running along the bottom edge of the strip, appearing as a fine modulated white line consistent with a stereo variable-area optical track; Dolby Digital pixel blocks are not clearly distinguishable at this size, and no DTS timecode stripe or SDDS outer-edge data is visible in this capture.
Edge print: The number '277' is visible printed along the top edge, reading in reverse, indicating emulsion-up orientation; no manufacturer name, 'SAFETY FILM' legend, or additional key numbers are legible in this capture.
Base & colour: The base shows a pale warm-cream tint; the dye image reads as a positive with saturated yellows and blues, showing no visible red shift or fading.
Projection history: No visible scratches, splice marks, or cue marks are observed in this capture.
Picture: Positive image; the two visible frames appear to be from the same shot and are consecutive, and the animated character and colour palette are consistent with the film on record.
Era check: The variable-area optical track, warm polyester-base tint, and saturated positive dye image are all consistent with a mid-2000s theatrical release print, matching the 2006 release date of the film on record.

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 Capture As received

The film strip as photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation

Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size