The Powerpuff Girls Movie (2002) brought Craig McCracken's Cartoon Network trio to theatrical scale, released by Warner Bros. after years of television success built on Townsville's trio of super-powered kindergartners. The trailer campaign introduced new audiences, and longtime fans, to an origin story expanding the show's mythology for the big screen. This promotional run marked a rare moment when a Cartoon Network property received full cinematic marketing treatment, making surviving trailer material a notable artifact of early 2000s animated feature promotion and the franchise's theatrical ambitions.
This cell preserves a moment from that trailer featuring Bubbles, Blossom, and Buttercup together, the three central characters whose combined presence anchors the franchise's identity. Flight is central to their power set, a visual shorthand for their heroic role that trailers often use to establish stakes and spectacle before a film's release. Collectors prize material showing all three girls as a unit, since the trio's chemistry defines the property more than any single character. A trailer cell like this one captures the promotional language of the film, the brief visual statement meant to sell audiences on the Powerpuff Girls before the feature itself arrived in theaters.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release print of The Powerpuff Girls Movie trailer (2002).
Gauge
35mm layout with four perforations per frame along both edges; the strip holds three frames, the first partly cut off at the left end.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, with rounded-rectangle holes that look cleanly punched and uniform.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track of three wavy bands runs beside the picture, with a speckled, dotted pattern in the gaps between the lower-edge perforations; no timecode line is visible.
Edge print
Faint, partly legible edge text sits along the upper edge, too indistinct to quote reliably; no key numbers or 'SAFETY FILM' wording can be read.
Base & colour
The base shows a light cyan-blue tint along the edges; the picture dyes look saturated and neutral, with no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
No scratches, splices or cue marks seen at this size; a few tiny specks appear on the base but nothing resembling projection wear.
Picture
Positive colour image; the frames show the same shot continuing across consecutive frames, with Powerpuff Girls characters matching the film on record.
Era check
Optical track plus Dolby Digital-style data blocks between the perforations fit a 2002 35mm release print, and the cartoon content matches 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 000071092
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
