The Powerpuff Girls Movie arrived in 2002 from Warner Bros. Pictures and Cartoon Network Studios, expanding Craig McCracken's television hit into an origin story for Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup. Directed by McCracken himself, the film traced the trio's creation in Professor Utonium's lab and their rise from lab accident to Townsville's protectors. It marked a rare instance of a Cartoon Network series earning a full theatrical release, bridging Saturday morning animation with the big screen and extending the franchise's reach well beyond its original half hour format. The movie remains a touchstone of early 2000s animated branding and merchandising.
This cell preserves a logo card from the trailer reel, the kind of frame used to announce the production before footage of the story begins. Such cards typically carry the film's name and identity rather than a scene, serving as a signpost for audiences entering the world of the Powerpuff Girls for the first time on film. Collectors seek these pieces because they capture the movie's own self presentation, the moment the franchise declared its arrival in theaters. As promotional material rather than narrative footage, it holds a distinct place in the reel's sequence and in the history of the property's expansion.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release trailer print of The Powerpuff Girls Movie Trailer (2002).
Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges, and the strip holds three frames, each carrying the same title card.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced and cleanly punched with rounded-rectangle holes, no visible tears or stretched or broken perforations.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track runs between the picture and the lower perforations, and the lower perforation edge also shows a grey speckled pattern between the holes; no Dolby Digital blocks or DTS line are clearly visible.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Pale blue-green tint on the clear edge margins; the black picture area and bright title colours look neutral and unfaded.
Projection history
None seen at this size; no scratches, cue marks or splices are apparent on the strip.
Picture
Positive image: three consecutive frames show the same title card, 'The Powerpuff Girls Movie', which matches the film on record.
Era check
Consistent with a 2002 35mm release trailer print, because the optical track and the speckled between-perforation pattern fit the Dolby Digital-era stock of that period.
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 in partnership with National Film Vault, 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.
CROWN SERIAL 000071062
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
