The Powerpuff Girls Movie (2002) arrived via Cartoon Network Studios and Warner Bros. Pictures, extending Craig McCracken's television hit into feature form. The show had become a defining Cartoon Network property of the late 1990s, and the film served as an origin story, explaining how Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup came to be. Promotional trailers circulated through theaters and television spots ahead of release, building anticipation among a fanbase that spanned children and the burgeoning adult animation audience. This 35mm trailer material captures that marketing push, preserved from an era when theatrical previews were still struck and distributed on physical film stock.
This cell preserves a close-up of Professor Utonium, the girls' creator and father figure, a character essential to the franchise's mythology and a draw for collectors assembling character-specific sets. A close-up in trailer material typically isolates a key figure to establish presence ahead of the main feature, offering a single frame devoted entirely to him. As a trailer cell rather than a frame from the finished film, it represents the promotional campaign itself, a distinct and often overlooked category of collectible tied to how audiences first encountered the movie.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm Dolby Digital release print of The Powerpuff Girls Movie trailer (2002).
Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges, with three full frames visible on this strip.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, rounded-rectangle shape, cleanly punched with no visible tears or missing holes.
Soundtrack
A two-track variable-area optical track runs beside the picture, with Dolby Digital data blocks visible in the gaps between the perforations on the sound edge.
Edge print
Faint reversed text reading roughly 'SAFETY' along the upper edge; no key numbers or other codes legible.
Base & colour
Clear base with a pale blue-cyan tint at the edges; the dye image looks neutral to slightly warm, with no obvious fading.
Projection history
No scratches, cue marks or splices seen at this size; only faint speckle in the Dolby data blocks, which is normal for the printed data area.
Picture
Positive image; the three frames run consecutively as one near-static shot, and the flat graphic animation style fits an animated trailer such as the film on record.
Era check
Optical tracks plus Dolby Digital blocks on safety-base stock fit a 2002 theatrical release print, so this is consistent with 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 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 000071079
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
